Sundance 2021: How It Ends Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

How it Ends was a film conceived and created in the pandemic in mind. Taking place on the last day on Earth, it follows a woman named Liza (Lister-Jones) and her struggle to reconcile all the relationships she has broken in her lifetime. Sounds pretty bleak right? Well, it’s anything but bleak. The film is a surprisingly light and quirky look at the end of the world and the anxieties that come with it. That being said, the film doesn’t quite hit every beat it intends to. Some of the humor go on for a bit too long just to milk out one of many celebrity cameo which at times make it feel like an SNL sketch. However, the most transcendent aspects of the film are the quite sublime moments of growth. However, it becomes a bit on the nose when it comes to its themes, its sincerity by the conclusion which choked me up a bit.

The main selling point of How it Ends were Lister-Jones and Spaeny as Liza’s younger self as they absolutely crush it here while their chemistry was absolute dynamite. Despite the film’s colossal comedic cameos, Spaeny easily steals the film. Meanwhile, its fantastical elements were delightful. Taking place in a world similar to our own, the film has flourishes of surrealism that give it a nice unique touch. Some of the weirder gags involving what people would really be doing on their last day on Earth were hilarious more often than not. The way this film explores morality in a lighter way as a sweet embrace of the fact things just have to end was a cathartic and profound experience in a lot of ways.

Check out How it Ends whenever it is released.

still courtesy of Sundance

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Brett Schutt

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