Endings, Beginnings

Endings, Beginnings
File:Endings, Beginnings film poster.png Film poster
Directed by	Drake Doremus
Produced by	Francis Chung Robert George Drake Doremus Jeong Tae-sung
Written by	Jardine Libaire Drake Doremus
Starring	Shailene Woodley Jamie Dornan Sebastian Stan Matthew Gray Gubler
Music by	Philip Ekstrom
Cinematography	Marianne Bakke
Edited by	Garret Price
Production company	CJ Entertainment Protagonist Pictures
Distributed by	Samuel Goldwyn Films (United States) Smile Ent. (South Korea)
Release dates	September 8, 2019 (2019-09-08) (TIFF) April 17, 2020 (2020-04-17) (United States) June 24, 2020 (2020-06-24) (South Korea)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	South Korea United States
Language	English

Endings, Beginnings is a 2019 romantic drama film, directed by Drake Doremus, from a screenplay he wrote alongside Jardine Libaire. The film is semi-improvised and loosely based on the screenplay. It stars Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan, Sebastian Stan, and Matthew Gray Gubler.

It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2019. It was released on April 17, 2020, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Premise

Reeling from a bad recent break-up, Daphne finds herself adrift in life. Living in her sister's guesthouse, she regularly witnesses her sibling and her brother-in-law fighting, which only exacerbates the once-idealistic Daphne's growing despair regarding long-term love. Then, at one of her sister's parties, Daphne meets Frank and Jack. Both are enormously attractive to her, albeit in very different ways: one is the free-spirited bad boy, unpredictable, and always ready for adventure; the other is sober, intelligent, sensitive, and invested in his career as an academic. Unable to choose between these almost polar opposites, Daphne finds herself bouncing between them instead, enjoying the distinct ways each man sees her — it's as though she's auditioning different versions of herself and the life that might be waiting for her. But fate has a way of making decisions for us, and the time soon comes when Daphne is forced to accept that having it all might just be a disguise for having nothing.

— Toronto International Film Festival

Cast

• Shailene Woodley as Daphne, Billie's sister, Adrian's ex-girlfriend, Sue's daughter and a thirty-something woman navigating love and heartbreak over the course of one year
• Jamie Dornan as Jack, an Irish writer
• Sebastian Stan as Frank
• Matthew Gray Gubler as Adrian, Daphne's ex-boyfriend
• Lindsay Sloane as Billie, the foil sister of Daphne and Sue's daughter, who is the financial shoulder for Daphne to lean on, and is married with a baby on the way
• Ben Esler as Jed
• Shamier Anderson as Jonathan
• Noureen DeWulf as Noureen
• Wendie Malick as Sue, Daphne and Billie's mother
• Kyra Sedgwick as Ingrid
• Sherry Cola as Chris
• Jonathan Freeman as Graham
• Kai Lennox as Fred

Production

It was announced in October 2018 that filming had begun on Drake Doremus’s next film project, which he co-wrote with author Jardine Libaire in Los Angeles. Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan, Sebastian Stan, Matthew Gray Gubler, Lindsay Sloane and Shamier Anderson were set to star. In November 2018, Sherry Cola joined the cast of the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2019. Shortly after, Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired distribution rights to the film. It was originally scheduled to be released in theaters on May 1, 2020. On March 26, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the film being brought forward and released digitally on April 17, 2020.

Reception

Endings, Beginnings holds a approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Endings, Beginnings smothers its talented ensemble cast's committed work in a carelessly constructed, aimlessly dawdling story." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 42 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Peter DeBruge of Variety gave the film a negative review, writing: "Doremus tells his story in snippets, jump-cutting between grubby handheld footage of Daphne's life shot from with her face all or partially obscured. The film traps us outside her head, never really allowing us inside it." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a negative review writing: "The movie aims to make Daphne's journey raw and real, but mostly it's just insipid." Jeanette Catsoulis of The New York Times gave the film a positive review writing: "The writing might be a tangle of limp clichés, but the actors - especially Woodley and the terrific Wendie Malick as Daphne's mother - sweat to sell every line." Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood also gave the film a positive review writing: "Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan, and Sebastian Stan enliven and enrich this film of three 30-somethings caught up in a love triangle."

External links

• Endings, Beginnings at IMDb
• Endings, Beginnings at Rotten Tomatoes
• Endings, Beginnings at Metacritic