I watched such a good film this week, The End Of Love.
It might not be to everyone's liking but I really liked it.
It's called The End Of Love, written, directed and starred by actor Mark Webber.
But actually he isn't the star of the film .... Isaac is!
I watched this film really knowing nothing about it except what I got from the trailer
and knowing that it premiered at Sundance (I love a good Sundance film).
After watching the film it really stuck in my mind, I wanted to know more so I did a little bit of
googling and was surprised by what I found out but at the same time it all started to make sense...
The End Of Love is a story of Mark, a struggling actor and his relationship with his 2 year old son Isaac. Isaac's mum passes away unexpectedly and we go on the journey of Mark grieving whilst coming to terms that he is now raising his young son alone.
What is incredible in this film is Isaac.
He couldn't be any cuter, a gorgeous little blonde who is so inquisitive with lots of questions for dad.
I kept thinking what a great little actor but how at that age can he do that?
I guess it helps to be working with his own dad!
Isaac (real name) is Mark's real life son and that just made the film so much sweeter
and an intensely personal film.
Anthem magazine recently did an interview with Mark and the answer he gave to this question
gave a real insight as to why the film is so good :
Mark, you mentioned in a previous interview that your son
Isaac doesn’t have the ability to be false because he’s in the present
all the time. How did you use that to your advantage while shooting this
film?
MW: It was nine parts really hard work and one part
crazy magic.
As his dad, I understand his rhythms throughout the day and
I know his moods.
Early on during production, I let my producers know
that we had to build this whole movie around my son. If he’s feeling a
little cranky one day, it would be a good idea to utilize that for a
certain scene. Everything had to be scheduled around Isaac. It was so
exhilarating.
The conversation that I have with my son at the end of the
film about life and death, I had been saving that conversation. I only
had that one opportunity and we could never repeat it.
If the cameras
didn’t work or something went wrong, we simply wouldn’t have it.
There’s
something about doing things like that, which creates this magical
energy
MW: Isaac’s not here because I don’t want this to be
the beginning of his career.
We want to protect him. Since we were able
to make the movie in a way that’s noninvasive,
he didn’t know that we
were making a movie while we were shooting it,
let alone that it would
end up at Sundance.
(you can read more of this Anthem interview
here )
If you like a story, a real story in a movie then this is a film you might like.
The End Of Love
