Tilda Swinton, George Mackay, Michael Shannon, and Moses Ingram sing for their lives in “The End.”
Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic family drama “The End” stars Swinton as a mother who protects her family by living in a bunker for decades after the world has ended. George Mackay, her plays her son, has never seen the outside world. Shannon co-stars as his father, while Moses Ingram plays a stranger who arrives, interrupting their carefully crafted underground world.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Twenty-five years after environmental collapse left the Earth uninhabitable, Mother, Father and Son are confined to their palatial bunker, where they struggle to maintain hope and a sense of normalcy by clinging to the rituals of daily life—until the arrival of a stranger, Girl, upends their happy routine. Son, a naïve twenty-something who has never seen the outside world, is fascinated by the newcomer, and suddenly, the delicate bonds of blind optimism that have held this wealthy clan together begin to fray. As tensions rise, their seemingly idyllic existence starts to crumble, with long-repressed feelings of remorse and resentment threatening to destroy the family’s delicate balance. But their reckoning with difficult truths also points to a different way forward, one based on acceptance, love, and a capacity for change.
Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, and Lennie James co-star in the film, which played Telluride and Toronto, and opens from Neon on December 6. debuted at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and screened at Telluride.
This is “The Act of Killing” and “The Look of Silence” documentary director Oppenheimer’s narrative feature debut, and he co-wrote the script with Ramus Heisterberg. Producers include Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sorensen, and Swinton.
Swinton’s recent roles include the surreal art-world comedy “Problemista” and Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City.” She stars in Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, “The Room Next Door,” alongside Julianne Moore.
Meanwhile, Swinton’s “The End” co-stars MacKay, Shannon, and Ingram have also stayed busy with buzzy projects. Shannon appeared in “The Bikeriders” while Ingram co-starred in Apple TV+’s “Lady in the Lake” series with Natalie Portman. MacKay starred in “Femme” and “The Beast,” both 2024 releases.
Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” (2014) and “The Look of Silence” (2016) both made IndieWire’s Best of the Decade list.
“The End” premieres December 6 in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles, with a nationwide rollout December 13. Check out the trailer below and read the IndieWire review here.
