Midlands Review of The End
midlandsmovies • September 17, 2021
The End
Directed by Alex Taylor
2021
Filmed during lockdown by Midlands director Alexandra Taylor, The End is a new 2-minute short set in the confines of a house after a particular nasty accident.
The director has explained that she was “stuck in the house with an actor, a well-trained dog, a camera phone and a folder full of poems that had never seen the light of day” and thus the short was conceived.
Simple text on a screen opens the micro-short with the title "The Chronicles of Nadia 1: The End" giving a hint that there is more to come from this web-series.
The director wrong-foots us somewhat as we get an ominous opening shot from the top of some stairs where a woman (Alex Lacey as Nadia) appears to be at death's door at the bottom.
Explaining out loud, she tells us she hit her head and passed away, yet she wakes and ruminates on the nature of her death in the form of a poem.
The melancholy rhyming couplets explore how Nadia hoped for a more “grand” death and she suggests fantastical scenarios such as a heart attack on Oscars night.
With a dash of darkness, it’s good to see a short use the constriction of home lockdown for something creative. Symbolically the words express perhaps the regrets of many of us that we didn’t make the most of life (especially “the outside”) before we were told to stay at home.
And Nadia’s final thoughts of “unrealised dreams” will certainly echo with many after the tough year we’ve had.
At the end, the short brings home the sad humour of her predicament with a cameo from the director’s own dog which again, brings to the forefront the message of a sorrowful demise alone at home.
The film’s dialogue is the highlight here with the poem conjuring up thoughts and feelings that could reflect the outlook of so many in recent times. The film doesn’t have a great deal of cinematic qualities but this keeps the focus on the witty language and the great delivery by Alex Lacey herself.
With more chronicles promised, it’s positive to see filmmakers like Alexandra Taylor find a creative outlet for their artistic endeavours and this bittersweet short delivers an intriguing pitch-black metaphor on life (and death) through the lens of recent events.
Michael Sales
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