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How It Ends (2021 film)

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How It Ends
How It Ends poster
Official poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Daryl Wein
  • Zoe Lister-Jones
Produced by
  • Daryl Wein
  • Zoe Lister-Jones
Starring
Cinematography
  • Daryl Wein
  • Tyler Beus
Edited by
  • Daryl Wein
  • Libby Cuenin
Music byRyan Miller
Production
company
Mister Lister Films
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures (through United Artists Releasing)
Release dates
  • January 29, 2021 (2021-01-29) (Sundance)
  • July 20, 2021 (2021-07-20) (United States)
Running time
82 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$16,104[2]

How It Ends is a 2021 American apocalyptic comedy-drama film written, directed, and produced by Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones. It stars Lister-Jones and Cailee Spaeny, with cameo appearances by 23 others in a series of vignettes, facilitating the reality of 2020 COVID-19 protocols while serving the underlying plot device of walking through the deserted streets of Los Angeles.

The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 29, 2021, and was released in the United States on July 20, 2021, by United Artists Releasing.

Plot summary

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On the last full day before a meteor arrives on its collision course with Earth, Liza takes stock of her life through a conversation with her "metaphysical" childhood self. The conversation carries through as they walk through the empty streets of Los Angeles to their cousin Mandy's End of the World Party. As they walk, they have short interactions with numerous individuals, including the metaphysical YS of others – the Younger Selves who are now visible due to certain doom having elevated everyone's awareness. The Lizas also stop to visit some family, and friends, they want to see before the end.

Cast

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Production

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Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones reached out to numerous actor friends, and even some actors they did not know, to say "If you’re interested in starting to step outdoors in whatever fashion that may be and however energetically, we’ll meet you halfway."[3] The couple felt that their years of experience working a free form style together helped facilitate doing so with such a large and diverse cast, over a series of numerous vignettes.[3]

The film was shot and completed in Los Angeles, California, during the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

Release

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The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 29, 2021.[5] It was also scheduled to screen at South by Southwest in March 2021,[6] which ended up being a virtual SXSW festival as the COVID-19 pandemic in Austin remained troubling. In May 2021, American International Pictures acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film, and set it for a release in the United States on July 20, 2021.[7] However, subsequent worldwide waves extended the COVID-19 pandemic through 2021, and the film was released through video-on-demand and streaming services.

Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on reviews from 74 critics, with an average rating of 6/10. The critics consensus reads: "It can feel more like a collection of skits than a cohesive story, but How It Ends is a comedic vision of the apocalypse with fleeting moments of brilliance."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]

Writing in RogerEbert.com, critic Peter Sobczynski described the film as "a tedious exercise in half-baked whimsy," that "attitude is the only thing the film really has to offer to viewers," and that "although there are a few amusing moments here and there, the comedic situations are too droll for their own good and too often seem to waste potentially interesting ideas."[10] Chris Barsanti wrote in Slant Magazine that "the film’s chill and even-tempered approach to the incredible, which allows for some quietly witty moments, is impressively sustained," but that it "is more committed to [...] individual moments than any dramatic through line."[11] James Scott described the film in The Austin Chronicle as "more in twain than cohered [and that] much of the film fails to create sparks, with romantic B plots, jokes, and even the story resolution of the once-stolen car being returned all smudging off each other like damp matches," but noted that "the film succeeds most in the simplicity of Liza and her younger self as they navigate the tension of finding balance and acceptance of the entire self."[12]

References

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  1. ^ "How It Ends". Sundance Film Festival. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  2. ^ "How It Ends". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Lindahl, Chris (January 31, 2021). "'How It Ends' Filmmakers Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones on How They Assembled a Dream Cast in a Pandemic". IndieWire. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  4. ^ Tracy Brown (January 29, 2021). "Made during the pandemic, Sundance comedy 'How It Ends' is a love letter to Los Angeles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 2, 2023.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Debruge, Peter (December 15, 2020). "Sundance Film Festival Lineup Features 38 First-Time Directors, Including Rebecca Hall and Robin Wright". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  6. ^ Day-Ramos, Dino (February 10, 2021). "SXSW Film Festival Unveils Full Lineup; Charli XCX Quarantine Feature To Close Fest; Tom Petty Docu Set As Centerpiece". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  7. ^ Donnelly, Matt (May 10, 2021). "Zoe Lister-Jones Sundance Player 'How It Ends' Sells to MGM's American International Pictures (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  8. ^ "How It Ends". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  9. ^ "How It Ends Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
  10. ^ Sobczynski, Peter (July 20, 2021). "How It Ends". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  11. ^ Barsanti, Chris (January 31, 2021). "'How It Ends' Review". Slant. Slant Magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  12. ^ Scott, James (July 23, 2021). "How It Ends". Chronevents. Austin Chronicle Corp. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
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