My Review: Fin (3/10)

¨The end is closer than you can imagine.¨

Fin (The End) is a Spanish film that was officially selected for the Toronto International Film Festival last year. It`s a thriller that really never thrilled me and I was highly disappointed with this film because despite having an unknown director, Jorge Torregrossa (mostly known in Spain for directing TV series), the screenplay was adapted by two well known Spanish writers, Sergio Sanchez (The Orphanage) and Jorge Guerricaechevarria (Cell 211), who have written some great screenplays. It was not the case with The End because one of the weakest aspects about this film for me was the script which never managed to create likeable characters or believable situations. If you are going to make a thriller you better back it up with a decent story, but here they never explain the strange developments. This could have worked perhaps as a TV series, but in a 90 minute movie we never got to care for any of the characters and what we really wanted to know never was explained. The End is one of those films that tries to be all philosophical but never ends up saying anything at all. It doesn’t reward the viewer for their patience. The film was adapted from David Monteagudo`s novel which I have never read and really don’t want to after watching this. I imagine it never explains any of the strange events occurring either. There are about nine actors in the entire film and we never really care for any of them. The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that it was nicely shot thanks to the beautiful landscape chosen as the setting for the story.

The plot is pretty simple; a group of friends decide to reunite after 20 years in a beautiful mountain cabin. This group of friends seem to have been really tight, but something happened in their past that has separated them and continues to haunt them. Sara (Carmen Ruiz) is the one who decided to reunite the group for the weekend after calling each one of them. Sergio (Miguel Fernandez) decides to go with his apparent girlfriend Eva (Clara Lago), while Maribel (Maribel Verdu) goes with her husband Rafa (Antonio Garrido). Maribel and Sergio had a relationship in the past, but haven’t seen each other since the episode 20 years ago. Felix (Daniel Grao), the Casanova of the group, is dating Cova (Blanca Romero). Everything seems to be just fine as the group is laughing together as they camp outside, but Sara is worried that their friend known as the prophet (Eugenio Mira) hasn’t showed up. The reason she is so worried is because he was the one that convinced her to call everyone because he wanted to see them. Apparently the prophet was the reason why the group broke up in the first place after he suffered a severe seizure and began prophesying about the end of the world. He was institutionalized, but Sara said he was recovering very well and that is why she insisted on everyone meeting again. Around midnight a strange incident involving a thundering noise and lightning takes place, which leaves the place without lights or communication. The vehicles don’t work either as apparently some strange magnetism has affected them. All of a sudden some of them begin to vanish and no one knows what is going on.

The plot seems pretty interesting but believe me the film isn’t. The director never takes time to explain the strange events, and the back stories of each character are never explained clearly. The reason why the group disintegrated 20 years ago is really poorly developed and doesn’t make much sense really. I was really disappointed with this and expected more considering the plot seemed pretty inventive. This is just another failed attempt at a thriller which really never has any thrills. The cast in this film doesn’t stand out either. The only well known actress here is Maribel Verdu, but she doesn’t play an important role. The entire mystery and eeriness of the film is never explained at all which made me feel like everything was a complete waste of time. We see the events unfolding before our eyes, but we are never explained why these things are occurring. The End just felt pointless for me and I wouldn’t recommend this film.