Until the End of the World
Director - Wim Wenders
Cast- Solveig Dommartin, Pietro Falcone
Country of Origin - Various
Distributor - Criterion
Number of Discs - 2
Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald
Date- 12/18/2019
Until the End of the World is a film legendary in the realm of arthouse cinema. The director Wim Wenders had mades waves in world-cinema through the prior decade with films such as Wings of Desire and Paris, TX. His reputation had grown immensely, and at his peak he decided to make a film about a road trip as the world ends. This film Until the End of the World has rarely seen an uncut release in the last 30 years, mostly due to the fact that the running time of the director's cut is pushing upon 5 hours, a cinematic endurance test for even the most hardened cinephiles (though those of us who do marathons of Out 1, Satantango, and Berlin Alexanderplatz should definitely apply).
The film follows Claire (Solveig Dommartin), who in an attempt to leave her existence behind finds herself in a massive car wreck. This car wreck gets her involved with a pair of bank robbers, and as such she ends up with a lot of money. Some of this money is stolen by Sam (William Hurt) who uses a device that records his own vision, so that his Mother can view them. The first half of the film sees Claire chasing Sam around the world from Moscow to Shanghai and beyond. There is more going on here with Claire's ex trying to novelize the experience, and a detective played by Possession's Sam Neill finding himself along for the ride.
Usually when I come across films with exaggerated running times, the filmmaker responsible tries to make the experience feel EPIC, and while I will say Wender's scope of the project filming his narrative literally all around the world is definitely epic. The film feels quite light, watchable, and ultimately fun.
Wender's visuals here are outstanding and diverse from the dry French countryside that the film's famous car crash occurs on, to the bright lights of Shanghai and more. The performance across the board, are beyond fantastic, and truly help make this film, but when you have William Hurt and Sam Neill in your cast that is to be expected. Of course, the soundtrack is essential here. We get such 80's rock luminaries as Nick Cave, REM, and U2, and that just scratches the surface of the mixtape for this apocalyptic roadtrip.
The Criterion edition of Until the End of the World presents the film across 2 Blu-ray discs in its uncut 287 minute form. The transfer is presented at 1:66:1 in a 1080p AVC encode. Everything here looks predictably spectacular. Detail is excellent, colors pop, flesh tones are accurate, and blacks are inky and deep. Audio is presented in a 5.1 HD surround track in English, French, and German. The audio sounds excellent, and the mix is both clear and well-balanced. Extras include an introduction by Wenders, interviews with Wenders, David Byrne, a Japanese TV show about the film, and more interviews and featurettes from decades past. Until The End of the World has deserved an amazing release for a very long time, and I am happy to report it finally got it. HIGHLY RECOMMENEDED.
