Jodie Comer is exceptional in new survival drama
In The End We Start From, being a first-time mother feels as transformative as surviving a climate disaster.
Based on Megan Hunter's novel of the same name, Jodie Comer's new movie reframes the disaster-movie genre by focusing on intimate moments rather than an action-driven plot and brutal, impactful imagery. That makes Mahalia Belo's feature debut even more realistic — a down-to-earth approach to an apocalyptic event where motherhood turns out to be the biggest of all adventures.
Also, who needs massive-scale destruction when you have Comer's jaw-dropping lead performance? After being overlooked in Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, the Liverpool actress is flawless in her first solo lead performance.
The End We Start From follows an unnamed Woman (Comer) who gives birth to her first child, Zeb, on the same day heavy rainfall starts submerging London. Alongside her husband (Joel Fry), she is forced to leave the city in search of refuge.
They make it to his parents (Mark Strong and Nina Sosanya) in the countryside, but soon the lack of resources and the escalating tensions in increasingly starving and isolated communities around them break any sense of safety they might have achieved.
Out in the wild again, she finds herself alone with her son, forced to deal with loss and trauma while taking care of a newborn. It's a story of resilience, strength and chosen families, as another lonely young mother (Katherine Waterston) becomes her travel companion, turning the story from harrowing drama to uplifting road movie.
After all, The End We Start From refuses to give in to pessimism, and that sets it apart from the apocalyptic-movie pile.
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