''How It Ends'' is a 2021 American apocalyptic comedy-drama film written, directed, and produced by

Daryl Wein Daryl Robert Wein (born December 23, 1983) is an American artist, filmmaker, producer and actor. Early life Born in Los Angeles, California to Jan Sparling and Mitchell Wein, he was raised in Westport, Connecticut. His father worked as a creative ...

and Zoe Lister-Jones. It stars Lister-Jones and Cailee Spaeny, with cameo appearances by 23 others in a series of vignettes, facilitating the reality of 2020 COVID-19 protocols while serving the underlying plot device of walking through the deserted streets of Los Angeles. The film had its world premiere at the

2021 Sundance Film Festival The 2021 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 28 to February 3, 2021. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 15, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Utah, the festival combined in-person screenings at the Ray ...

on January 29, 2021, and was released in the United States on July 20, 2021, by United Artists Releasing.

Plot summary

On the last full day before a meteor arrives on its collision course with Earth, Liza takes stock of her life through a conversation with her " metaphysical" childhood self. The conversation carries through as they walk through the empty streets of Los Angeles to their cousin Mandy's End of the World Party. As they walk, they have short interactions with numerous individuals, including the metaphysical YS of othersthe Younger Selves who are now visible due to certain doom having elevated everyone's awareness. The Lizas also stop to visit some family, and friends, they want to see before the end.

Cast

Production

The married team of Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, who had not yet separated at the time, reached out to numerous actor friends, and even some actors they did not know, to say "If you’re interested in starting to step outdoors in whatever fashion that may be and however energetically, we’ll meet you halfway." The couple felt that their years of experience working a free form style together helped facilitate doing so with such a large and diverse cast, over a series of numerous vignettes.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 29, 2021. It was also scheduled to screen at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in March 2021, which ended up being a virtual SXSW festival as the COVID-19 pandemic in Austin remained troubling. In May 2021, American International Pictures acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film, and set it for a release in the United States on July 20, 2021. However, subsequent worldwide waves extended the COVID-19 pandemic through 2021, and the film was released through video-on-demand and streaming services.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on reviews from 74 critics, with an average rating of 6/10. The critics consensus reads: "It can feel more like a collection of skits than a cohesive story, but ''How It Ends'' is a comedic vision of the apocalypse with fleeting moments of brilliance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Zoe Lister-Jones 2021 films American comedy-drama films Films directed by Zoe Lister-Jones 2021 comedy-drama films 2021 independent films American independent films American International Pictures films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films