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DIGITAL

Opening Date

05 Sep 2024

Rating

PG13 Some Scenes of Intimacy

Runtime

130 mins

Language

English with Chinese subtitles

Genre

Drama

Director

Justin Baldoni

Cast

Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Isabela Ferrer, Alex Neustaedter, Kevin McKidd

Synopsis

IT ENDS WITH US, the first Colleen Hoover novel adapted for the big screen, tells the compelling story of Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and chase a lifelong dream of opening her own business. A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents’ relationship. When Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.

Directed by Justin Baldoni and produced by Alex Saks, Jamey Heath, and Christy Hall. The film stars Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Amy Morton and Brandon Sklenar, from a screenplay by Christy Hall, based on the book by Colleen Hoover.

Reviews

By InCinemas 30 Aug 2024

This film is a reminder to take greater care of the family and friends around us.

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It Ends With Us is a (questionable) romantic drama directed by Justin Baldoni (who you might know from Jane the Virgin), based on the 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover on her mother's abusive marriage.

The film follows the aptly named, Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), a feisty red head, who has just buried her abusive father and is starting a new life in Boston, chasing her lifelong dream of opening her own floral shop. We see Lily fall in love with Ryle Kincaid (played by Baldoni) – literally a tall, dark and handsome neurosurgeon – though their relationship eventually becomes toxic due to Ryle’s violent and manipulative behaviour which escalates in both frequency and severity. Intertwined with Lily’s relationship with Ryle are scenes from Lily’s teenage years, where she offers aid and friendship to her childhood friend and first love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), who provides her with a safe haven during difficult times. The film attempts to explores themes of love, trauma, and breaking the cycle of abuse.

Lily first meets Ryle when he comes barrelling up onto the rooftop of a building she has snuck into and proceeds to angrily kick a chair. The rest of the interaction between the pair appear to set the stage for an epic romance with witty, tension-filled banter and smouldering looks which is unfortunately cut short when Ryle is summoned back to hospital.

But of course, this not the last time Lily sees Ryle, who turns out to be the brother of her new employee, Allysa. Allysa (Jenny Slate), a bored but rich housewife, is an adorable addition to the cast who talks Lily into giving her a job. Her husband, Marshal (Hasan Minhaj) provided much needed comic relief. Despite Lily’s repeated insistence that she just wants to be friends, Ryle doggedly pursues her, ignoring her many entreaties and continues to push her boundaries. On her part, Lily somehow ignores all his glaring red flags.

While the audience is treated to romantic scenes of Lily and Ryle’s happy relationship developing, this eventually unravels with the re-appearance of Lily’s first love, Atlas, who is the chef/owner of the restaurant that she is dining at with her mother and Ryle.

The manner in which Baldoni cleverly depicts the acts of violence must be highlighted as it leads us through what Lily’s thought process might have been. The initial acts appear in snips and provides ambiguity as to whether Ryle intentionally committed the acts of violence and when we get the final recap of the scenes, we have no choice to conclude that incredibly violent acts have been committed by husband to wife. That being said it would have been advisable for there to have been a trigger warning for people who might potentially be impacted.

As one can guess with an adaptation of a Coleen Hoover novel, all’s well that ends well for Lily as she finds the strength to leave Ryle (who surprisingly takes it in stride) and we get a hint of her eventual (and convenient) reunion with Atlas. However, this occurs within the last half hour of the film leading it to feel like an extremely rushed conclusion without any focus on the nuance of Lily’s choice to be made.

Another observation of the film was that the music choices were at times extremely discordant and out of place with the scenes and only serves to bring the audience away from the significance of the scene.

Lively is adequate as Lily Bloom who is a free spirited strong-willed woman trying to break the cycle of generational trauma, but props must be given to Baldoni who perfectly portrays the seemingly appealing and dashing neurosurgeon with a monster within as well as Sklenar, who brings the right amount of tortured to his role as Lily’s first love desperately wanting to save her. The younger actors who portray the younger Lily and Atlas (respectively payed by Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter), who resemble the adult actors to a tee, play their character with an earnestness that provides much needed depth to their characters.

While the scenes of violence were kept to a minimal with choppy editing, it is still jarring and may trigger women or men who have been in such situations so greater care should be taken for moviegoers who may have been led to believe It Ends With Us is a light-hearted romance film. It should also be noted that the film (and the book) depicts how one woman was able to break the cycle of pain and move on, that she had a wide support system who believed in her abuse to help her, as well as the means to leave her spouse (who is also depicted to have been cognisant of the hurt caused and is willing to leave). This is not necessarily the experience other women/men have had and if anything, the film is a reminder to us all to take greater care of the family and friends around us.
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