Over the past year, there have been films released that were shot during the COVID-19 pandemic that have been downright uninteresting and lacking any form of entertainment. But, one of the films presented as the spotlight narrative in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, How It Ends, shows what can be done with a small crew, actual themes, and a real introspective story to tell.
How It Ends tells the story of Liza (Zoe Lister-Jones), who only has one day left to live as the Earth is set to explode into literal dust. While her original plans are to smoke weed and let her final moments be as numb as possible, that’s not enough for young Liza. Who is young Liza, you might ask? Young Liza happens to be the metaphysical personification of her younger self (Cailee Spaeny.) Young Liza challenges Liza to fully embrace the final day of Earth by examining her life and past with levels of confrontation and honesty, which includes seeing her ex and her parental figures just one last time.
What works, so wells in How It Ends are the simplistic choices that effectively remove reliving the pandemic we are still going through today by putting a lens on our anxieties created in the past year in the form of the global apocalypse. In examining those anxieties comes the question of “how would we as humans react to being put in situations we’ve put off experiencing until its inevitable?”
Along with its setting, Lister-Jones and Darryl Wein’s excellent screenplay focuses on finding self-worth and loving ourselves. If the pandemic has shown us anything is to appreciate every second, especially when it comes to self-health and cherishing moments with others. The film touches on those themes through Liza and Young Liza’s magnetic interactions.
Both Lister-Jones and Spaeny raise each other to another level with their fantastic chemistry. Spaeny’s free-spirited mindset and awkward charm convey a hopefulness that offsets older Liza’s most subdued nature and, in turn, gives off a level of vulnerability that is both sweet and downright hilarious allowing the tandem that sets the film apart from others at the Festival.
While the supporting cast is minimal as Lister-Jones and Spaeny dominate the screen, the supporting players who show up are all home runs. While I won’t go into spoiler territory, the film gives us some must-see cameo appearances that offer up a question of “who will we meet next” as the cameos are sprinkled through the film’s entire run time.
Out of all the films released at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, this one surpassed all expectations. How It Ends doesn’t adhere to standard rules set by disaster pics of yesteryear. It breaks the mold. The film challenges its audiences to think about more significant implications and how we, as people, relate to those implications and inspire self-evaluation while changing.
