Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-12-13 (Friday)

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

The End (theatrical) New movie, in what I'm assuming is a new genre,
"apocalyptic musical."  The movie stars Tilda Swinton as "Mother" and
Michael Shannon as "Father" who along with their son, "son" (George
MacKay) and a few other people live in a massive underground shelter
following some unspecific global apocalypse.  One day their world is
shattered when a young woman, "Girl" (Moses Ingram) makes her way into
their shelter, and then selfishly doesn't want to be thrown out to die.
Instead she insists she be allowed to stay in their shelter which has an
abundance of food and resources.  Mother just can't have this sort of
nonsense, but Son realizing Girl may be the only other female left on
Earth, or at least that he will ever have access too, wants her to stay.

This movie takes a page out of another Tilda Swinton apocalyptic movie,
"Snowpiercer" and serves as an allegory for the class system.  Mother
and Husband are portrayed as wealthy and out of touch with reality.
They are clinging on to a way of life that is long gone, and are trying
to maintain a class system with the other people in the shelter treated
more like employees than fellow survivors.  And for whatever reason
everyone just accepts this way of life.  Also the movie focuses on how
Father and mother are both desperate to literally rewrite history in the
eyes of Son.

There's a reason why Hollywood writers are unqualified to teach
econmics. Unless the wealthy did something unjust to make others poor,
then Girl isn't entitled to share the wealth.

If workers are performing valuable work and being compensated in a
barter arrangement, that's called a "market". The shelter isn't a free
market but everyone should be entitled to share in what's produced via
collective activity. No one is entitled to simply grab any wealth others
brought into the shelter pre-apocolypse.

That being said, I don't want to make this movie sound better than it
actually is.  "Snowpiercer" is a great movie.  "The End," not so much.
There is no reason for it to be a musical, and the songs, while OK, are
not memorable. I don't recall a single song from this movie, I watched
it last night!  The overall movie just screams pretentious arthouse
film.  Which *is* what it is.  It's worth watching maybe once, perhaps
paired with Snowpiercer, but beyond that I don't see much replay value
in it.

If I ever did watch it again, it would *have* to be paired with
Snowpiercer, so I could at least see Swinton essentially playing the
same character in two different apocalyptic movies.

Transfer it to nitrate film stock.