{"id":5494,"date":"2018-05-25T06:37:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T13:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=5494"},"modified":"2018-05-25T06:37:15","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T13:37:15","slug":"review-the-endless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=5494","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE ENDLESS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stuck in a time loop, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead star and co-direct the clever thriller, \u201cThe Endless.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Shades of \u201cPrimer\u201d are definitely present in \u201cThe Endless,\u201d a modestly budgeted, time-loop science fiction thriller that effectively mixes science and fantasy.<\/p>\n

When brothers Justin (Justin Benson) and Aaron (Aaron Moorhead) decide to return to visit a mysterious cult they once escaped from, they begin to question why they left in the first place. Older, controlling sibling Aaron is convinced that the strange group is something dangerous and evil, but the more naive Justin isn\u2019t so sure. Immediately upon arrival at the cult\u2019s isolated compound, things are obviously amiss. The members appear to have not aged in years, and they welcome the brothers with open arms.<\/p>\n

As Aaron investigates, he learns things that confuse him. Apparently, the commune isn\u2019t the only group of that occupies the remote desert location. And a sinister presence can be felt everywhere.<\/p>\n

\"\"A slow simmering mystery, \u201cThe Endless\u201d smartly develops its characters building up the science fiction\/horror elements in a thoroughly interesting manner. Interesting may not be the same thing as entertaining, however, and for some viewers, this film will frustrate, confound, and even bore them. That is, of course, the intention here. Just as writer\/director Shane Carruth demonstrated with 2004\u2019s critical hit \u201cPrimer\u201d and his marvelous 2013 followup \u201cUpstream Color,\u201d there is a market for this kind of intelligent science fiction that blends subtle special effects and techie dialogue to raise provocative questions.<\/p>\n

While \u201cThe Endless\u201d is no \u201cUpstream Color,\u201d it will certainly charm the same category of viewers hungry to geek on classic science fiction questions. The movie will appeal to the audience that rallied around the Brit Marling\/Mike Cahill film \u201cAnother Earth.\u201d Slow and thoughtful science fiction is critical to help balance out space operas like this weekend\u2019s somewhat shallow (certainly by comparison) \u201cStar Wars\u201d installment (see my \u201cSolo\u201d review).<\/p>\n

One thing is clear, smart, complex writing can be its own special effect. Films like Nacho Vigalondo\u2019s fascinating and thrilling 2007 film \u201cTimecrimes\u201d shows us that an audience can be genuinely provoked and engaged without big budget special effects. And the filmmaking duo of Benson and Moorhead can add their names to the list of directors determined to elevate the genre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you liked “Primer,” Jonathan thinks you’ll dig this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[444,445,50,450,447,103,104,446,443,91,449,448],"class_list":["post-5494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-aaron-moorhead","tag-justin-benson","tag-movie-review","tag-nacho-vigalondo","tag-primer","tag-sci-fi","tag-science-fiction","tag-shane-carruth","tag-the-endless","tag-thriller","tag-timecrimes","tag-upstream-color","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5497,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions\/5497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}