Endings, Beginnings product reviews

It's safe to say that the biggest drawcard for Endings, Beginnings is the cast. With Shailene Woodley (The Fault In Our Stars, Adrift), Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girl, Black Swan), and Jamie Dornan (the Fifty Shades Franchise, Untogether). Written, produced, and directed by Drake Doremus, Endings, Beginnings is a clear example of a Doremus film, with a well-grounded story that focuses on a lead character having trouble finding meaningful relationships. A basic premise, that creates a plethora of content with strong emotional ties, despite a complete lack of narrative direction.

Shailene Woodley stars as Daphne, a young artistic woman that goes through a tumultuous time in life, and while trying to get a clean break from relationships and vices, ends up emotionally caught between two best friends, Frank (Sebastian Stan) and Jack (Jamie Dornan). While slow to start and deliberately sparse with details of any inciting incidents, it doesn't take long for Doremus start developing his characters into three-dimensional constructs; realistic portrayals of people--neither inherently good nor bad--simply grounded characters with shades of grey in their personalities.

Endings, Beginnings is as listless as its primary protagonist, Daphne. Without a strong narrative driving force within the film, Daphne is almost a passive protagonist, at the mercy of her irrational and inconsistent decisions. While the reasoning for the poor judgement is explained somewhat as the film progresses, it hits a sour note, with the inciting event proving to be an unnecessary shock-value choice to achieve the final results. The strength in the film lies purely in the powerfully charismatic chemistry between Shailene Woodley and Sebastian Stan's characters.

Stan and Dornan's portrayals of Frank and Jack (respectively) could not be more different. Jack is the intelligent, quiet but confident, and highly successful character. Someone who has a sense of normalcy and consistency, with albeit lesser emotional heights. Frank, on the other hand, is widely inconsistent, with dark cynical and sarcastic traits that will vibe well with the millennial audience. An all-or-nothing personality, he is passionate and impulsive, leading to emotional highs, but ultimately insecure and unreliable, with his passion quickly draining away.

From a visual standpoint, Marianne Bakke's cinematography choices are interesting. A lot of the film has up-close framing to increase emotional awareness, with a lot of off-centre framing to highlight the unbalanced nature of the character and highlight the emptiness that our protagonist is feeling. Through a unique choice in editing, many similar repeated shots are sharply cut together to show time passing and a visual display of uncertainty, indecision, and consternation. This is still a romantic comedy though, and Doremus uses the lighting and colour palette as a constant reminder, forming a gorgeously soft and dreamy atmosphere, through the use of out-of-focus bokeh lighting shots, and a layer of haze added to most scenes.

A slow burn with no real destination for the film--beyond an attempt to change daphne from a passive character to an active one--it takes a while to warm up to the characters, but the realistic characterization and powerful chemistry between Daphne and Frank keep you hooked until the end. Also, it is probably a good idea to note that there is a very raunchy scene, that feels incredibly real. No stunt doubles here.