The End (IV) (2012) User Reviews

The Greatest Short Film I Have Ever Seen . Absolutely Brilliant

[Theo Robertson · 10/10 · 6 March 2014]

Jamie is a teenager from a middle class background . He comes from a loving home but his parents are a little bit strict . This might not be too much of a problem normally but Jaime has just met a girl and his parents won't approve of her because there's nothing more distracting to a youth about to sit their final exams than someone of the opposite sex . Jamie hatches a plan in order to have a clandestine meeting with his new found love

SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS

A fantastic little short film that I caught on the Short Of The Week Website . It came under a specific subsection featuring " The End " the same title as this film but for the most part it doesn't concern itself at all with this theme . Instead Ted Marcus serves us up a human drama about a teenager falling in love and facing an internal conflict between his hearts desire and an authoritarian home life that in turn is motivated by tough love . It's very well directed and paced by Ted Marcus who shoots his own screenplay and who uses the language of cinema very well , perhaps best of all the music which is never intrusive and enhances the mood of the film . At no time did I think " Come on get on with it . Is the world going to end or not ? " Then something happens that is totally unexpected

I was literally left in a state of shock and perhaps should say no more in case I give the game away . I don't want to lavish too much praise because too much hyperbole might lead to disappoint if someone reads this review and wants to check THE END out for themselves I will however say these events are entirely left open to interpretation and my own opinion is that they're not actually happening in reality and they only exist in the mind of Jamie who has become psychotic . The clues are there if you listen to the dialogue very carefully . That's my take on the ending but you can see people discussing whether the events are real or not and if you feel the need to discuss a short film then that can only be a good thing . So a big thank you to Ted Marcus for making a really great short film that I enjoyed . In fact it's the best one I've seen in a very long time

Edited To Add . Just watched it a second time and is just as terrifying and shocking and as brilliant as I thought it was . I don't care if I'm hyping it up beyond expectations . This is the greatest short film I've ever seen and the impact of that ending will stay with me for a while. I may not sleep with the lights off though !

A game of two halves and it does both very well (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 7 March 2014]

Jamie is a slightly well-to-do London teenager who is reaching the sort of end of his childhood where he is starting to rebel against the wishes of his parents. His new girlfriend down the street wants him to come out to party but it is a weeknight and he has an agreement with his parents that he will stay in and study on such days. Taking a smoke break on the roof, a neighbor offers him a sneaky way to avoid them – slip a sleeping tablet in their wine and, when they go to bed for a very deep sleep, sneak out of the house. Although feeling a little guilty on this, Jamie decides to go for it.

Writing about short films without spoiling them can be difficult sometimes because they may only be a few minutes long and the twist may be a big part of them as opposed to the final 5 minutes of a 120 minute film. This is a shame because often the same shorts really benefit from not being spoilt – which is why I flag this comment as not to be read unless you have seen the short, and also why I begrudge whatever egit put up the plot summary that extended to mentioning the Mayan prediction of the end of the world and that the story coincides with this. I dislike this because the film does such a good job of not being that, that to know something otherwise is coming works against what it is trying to do.

The first half of the film is a very well done coming-of-age tale. It isn't perfect but this is deliberate as it wants to draw you into this story and this type of film. It softly gives us Jamie and makes us believe in him. The soft music gives the whole thing a delicate air which draws you in future and, as Theo mentions, the sound is very well done (I always like it when a club ambiance can be delivered without breaking the main ambiance). Generally you will move forward through this part of the film, not only thinking you know where it is going as a genre piece, but still being interested in this part of it. The downside of this is that, even if you are into it, this side of the film does in retrospect feel like just a necessary part of the second part, which of course it is.

The second part delivers a real jolt scare with massive creatures and nightmarish visions appearing to come through from Hell to end the world. This could have been a cheap trick but what it prevents it being this is that it not only works very well but does also tie into the story of Jamie. I liked his rebellion continued till the end and in the meantime I was also quite caught off guard by the horror unfolding. The effects make it work because they are not only very impressive but they are very well deployed. Lewis is very convincing throughout and he helps a lot even if the other cast members are not so good.

It doesn't deliver a great deal of substance but as a short film it draws you in before flipping things on you quite spectacularly and, while I do not think there is a great deal more to it than this, I did enjoy it for what it did well with both halves of the film.