The End We Start From

Directed by Mahalia Belo, The End We Start From follows Jodie Comer’s protagonist as she’s forced to embark on a perilous journey with her newborn after London floods. It’s a seemingly foolproof setup that’s employed to consistently (and frustratingly) underwhelming effect by Belo, as the filmmaker, working from a script by Alice Birch, delivers an arms-length endeavor that strikes all the wrong notes right from the get-go – with the movie’s grating, uninvolving atmosphere perpetuated by a series of unpleasant and flat-out irritating visual choices (ie Belo’s ongoing attempts at cultivating a poetic, dreamy atmosphere fall completely, hopelessly flat). And while Comer’s admittedly impressive performance occasionally does manage to burst through Belo’s eye-rollingly ostentatious stylistic approach, The End We Start From, which also contains an almost shocking lack of context, stumbles through an endless midsection that’s almost entirely lacking in compelling, meaningful encounters and episodes – which, when coupled with an absolutely interminable final stretch, ultimately confirms the film’s place as a hopelessly inept endeavor that squanders its top-notch premise and cast. (Why have all the actors been directed to whisper and mumble their dialogue, by the way?)

* out of ****