By: Addison Wylie

After being lauded for his work as a documentarian on The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, I suppose Joshua Oppenheimer was itching to cash in some clout; deciding to do so with an apocalyptic musical titled The End. Sporting impressive art direction and a well-regarded cast including Tilda Swinton (I’m Not Here), Michael Shannon (The Night Before) and George MacKay (1917), Oppenheimer fuses components of a survival thriller, a dynasty drama, and a “Golden Age” musical to create a movie that’s strange yet accessible to movie goers; even if the film is solely aimed at musical theatre enthusiasts who are still riding their Wicked high.

While Oppenheimer pulls off this cinematic hybrid, other than sticking the landing, The End doesn’t necessarily “wow” the audience. The film is held back by its more sombre qualities, like trying to mimic the style and tone of a classic musical. The film’s ambition is similar to the Canadian-made fantasy Patch Town, the punk-rock anarchy of Repo! The Genetic Opera, and even cult hits like Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny or Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. However, those movies – as outrageous as they may be – benefited from campy qualities in choreography, lyricism, and comedy. While The End is closer in tone to Les Miserables or Dear Evan Hansen than Avenue Q, the movie could’ve used a bit of camp to further play up the contrast around singing and dancing about dire circumstances.

The End could be the beginning to an interesting career path for Joshua Oppenheimer, and this debut sets a good bar for him to reflect on what worked and what needed another take.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie