Tilda Swinton, George MacKay in End-of-World Musical

In December 2023, a report got here out that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was constructing a sprawling underground bunker on a secluded stretch of ranch land on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The undertaking is shrouded in layers of NDAs, however it’s supposedly 5,000 sq. ft and could have its personal power and meals provides. When the tip of civilization comes, Zuckerberg, like many billionaires, will probably be sheltered from influence. 

It’s laborious not to consider Zuckerberg, isolating in his bastion of uberwealth, whereas watching Joshua Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic musical The Finish. The movie, which premiered at Telluride, is an enchanting and demanding mental train about what occurs to a household who, after contributing to the world’s demise, shields themselves from the consequences of catastrophe. Do they grieve or remorse? Do they replicate on their actions? Or do they merely march ahead, lulled into complacency by the avoidant and revisionist tales they inform themselves?

In Oppenheimer’s hanging characteristic narrative debut, it’s a mix of all of the above. The Act of Killing director makes use of an allegorical household to probe a unique sort of psychological violence, one padded by the illusory consolation of cash. Mom (Tilda Swinton), Father (Michael Shannon) and Son (George MacKay) stay in a Zuckerberg-like bunker 25 years after an environmental disaster has left the Earth uninhabitable. Their routines, noticed early within the movie, embody a communal breakfast, studying piano (Mom), constructing a miniature mannequin of the outdated world (Son), emergency drills (everybody) and rearranging the costly artwork (Mom, once more) within the parlor. By way of these moments, Oppenheimer excursions the palatial bunker that he constructed with manufacturing designer Jette Lehmann. Every room, with its harsh, shiny lighting and ornate decorations, displays the household’s delusions.

In contrast to his dad and mom, Son doesn’t know the outdated world. He was born within the bunker, and his understanding doesn’t stretch past the compound. That naïveté is a boon for Father, a cagey and erudite man whose position at an power firm contributed to planetary catastrophe. He enlists his son to assist him write a memoir — a hagiographic and revisionist historical past of the household.

When the 2 males convene, Mom, haunted by nightmares about abandoning her household, frets concerning the work (principally landscapes of as soon as verdant plains) or talks to her buddy (Bronagh Gallagher), who additionally doubles because the cook dinner. Everybody within the bunker, together with the Butler (Tim McInnerny) and Physician (Lennie James), shapes their existence round conserving the reality of their pasts from Son. 

The Finish opens with humorous observations of how the household maneuvers this intricate obfuscation. Oppenheimer introduces music instantly: A strained ballad between Father, Son and ultimately Mom alerts the sort of songs that will probably be featured. The director wrote the lyrics for every quantity (Josh Schmidt composed the music) and most of them are somber and melancholic. That is, in any case, a musical concerning the finish of the world. However take note of when, and about what, the characters sing. The lyrics aren’t notably memorable, however they do reveal how music facilitates their avoidance of actuality.

This allergy to troublesome emotions is most obvious when Woman (Moses Ingram) enters the bunker. Her presence disrupts the fastidiously curated existence of the household, particularly as she and Son begin to fall in love. Coming from the surface world, Woman carries the weariness and curiosity of a survivor. She asks questions and makes an attempt, typically unsuccessfully, to convey up emotional matters.

At first, the household tries to kill her, however then they simply settle for her existence. The abrupt swap comes naturally to this group of individuals by no means requested to account for his or her actions. The Finish doesn’t confront the racial dynamics of Woman, a black girl, being thrust into the shelter of a white household, however it does gesture at her alienation. “I don’t perceive why she is right here,” Mom says at one level. “She is a stranger.” 

As Woman tries to search out her place, her interactions with the household heighten the stakes of this sparsely plotted story. She begins as a mirror, forcing them to replicate. It’s no spoiler to say the household rejects what they see. Slowly, nevertheless, she adopts their manners and begins to just accept their model of actuality.

Deeply dedicated performances from the solid are a serious energy of The Finish. They sing, dance and leap (with choreography by Sam Pinkleton and Ani Taj) across the bunker making an attempt to dodge accountability by means of more and more histrionic songs. MacKay’s portrayal of a very sheltered grownup is especially compelling, as is Ingram’s gradual transformation right into a hollowed-out model of herself.

The Finish requires full submission to the off-kilter guidelines that govern this household and to Oppenheimer’s ambitions to radicalize the musical style. It’s an admirable if uneven endeavor. The selection to inform this story as an allegory proves limiting within the movie’s second act, which, after an lively begin, languishes. With out extra particulars concerning the characters, funding of their post-apocalyptic playground wanes.

Oppenheimer’s movie does decide again up within the ultimate moments, invigorated by renewed questions concerning the tales we’d really feel compelled to inform ourselves when the tip does certainly arrive.