It’s been quite revealing to see how the film and television industries have responded to the limitations imposed by stringent regulations during the pandemic. We saw a few shows like Connecting… and Social Distance, the Coastal Elites special, and radically different release strategies from studios and streamers. What excites me most is the way that filmmakers have used new approaches to create stories that don’t directly reference what’s going on now in the world but try something innovative instead. To best illustrate this, let’s look at How It Ends, the new collaboration between Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein, who were last at Sundance with White Rabbit in 2018.
It’s the end of the world – a comet is headed towards Earth and so there’s literally going to be no tomorrow...
On this last day, Liza (Zoe Lister-Jones) walks all around Los Angeles encountering various people on the way to an epic party. She’s not alone, accompanied by her younger self (Cailee Spaeny), who is described initially as metaphysical but is now apparently visible to others since everyone is functioning at a higher level because of that impending end-of-the-world thing.
What ensues is the kind of humorous road trip by foot that would never, ever happen in L.A. since no one walks from neighborhood o neighborhood like the two Lizas do. And certainly not in heels!
They're able to meet people on the street and in outdoor spaes, and even though they're not wearing masks or sitting a full six feet apart, no one gets too close to each other. It may actually be what getting together looks like for those who have faithfully been observing CDC protocols once the pandemic is finally over, easing back into normal interaction towards a better future rather than the nonexistent future that's coming fast in this film.
The concept is clever, and the execution is absolutely fantastic. Lister-Jones was superb in Band Aid, which premiered at Sundance in 2017, and was always the best part of CBS’ Life in Pieces. Here, she’s her unfiltered, blunt self. She’s outdone by Spaeny, who matches her sardonic nature and challenges her incessantly. Their banter is reason enough to see this film, and that doesn’t even touch the rest of the cast. The highlights include Lamorne Morris as the world’s worst ex-boyfriend and Rob Huebel as an environmentalist who also denies science, with many others making the most of their one-scene appearances.
If the world really was ending tomorrow, watching this quirky, hilarious film would be a pretty solid way to spend the last day.