MIFF 2025 Film Review - It Ends
Images courtesy of Common State.
Four teens collide with a seemingly never-ending stretch of road in the minimal and liminal It Ends, a confident first feature from director Alexander Ullom. With their normal lives in the rear view mirror and their destination set for existential dread, It Ends taps into primal fears of the unknown and unexplainable, while also sinking its teeth into the all-too-relatable abyss that is the transitioning phase from teenagedom into adulthood.
Tyler, Fisher, James, and Day are your stereotypical teens to a fault - Tyler is the country-raised clear thinker, Fisher is the anxiety-ridden and lanky loudmouth, James is the more stereotypical “cool” guy, and Day is, well, the girl. These stock standard outlines may seem like a pretty big handicap in the first half hour or so, but as It Ends begins to reveal the tricks up its sleeve, it starts to make sense why we're playing it safe in terms of characterisation. These are not so much insightful, well-rounded humans as they are vessels for the viewer to see themselves through, to watch as their ideologies shift and evolve to cope with the situation at hand.
A striking sequence just before the bombastic title card drop shows the sheer threat of what lies beyond the side of the road in fantastic fashion, and while it's a shame this intensity never fully enters frame again, I can only commend Ullom for interrogating other facets of the premise, still managing to keep the film interesting despite its relatively one-note nature. Small details like scarcity of food, water and fuel are barely given a passing mention, as the film prefers to go all in on a dream logic state of being, and months go by with only the steady trickle of narrative twists allowing reprieve on its otherwise straightforward path.
The film’s visual language leans heavily into the claustrophobia of the car, often painting the passengers in swaths of darkness only contrasted by the dim headlights, and then during daytime bathing the environment in sunlight to show all that surrounds them is miles of forest. It’s a smart choice that reinforces the film’s central tension: the fear not of what’s chasing them, but of what might never come. Ullom’s restraint in this regard is admirable, allowing atmosphere and implication to do the heavy lifting where exposition might have dulled the impact.
Genre fans looking for a siege of monsters and otherworldly horrors may come away disappointed, but those looking for a more cerebral and borderline ethereal experience will likely find themselves embracing the film and its scrappy charm. It's a small wonder that a film such as this can remain investing even with its structural potholes, a welcome surprise that reaffirms the age-old approach of less being more.
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It Ends is screening as part of the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival. For tickets and more info, click here.