‘The End of Love’ exhibits true emotions

 By Summer Gomez

 

Mark Webber stars as himself in “The End of Love” creating a fantastic connection with his co-star, his son, but leaving audiences confused and unentertained.
As the director, writer and lead actor in his own film, Webber plays the role of a widowed father of two-year old son Isaac whom is played his actual son, Isaac Love. They display an extraordinary amount of affection in this drama because of the fact that they are in reality father and son.

From the beginning it is very slow with no character development. The story eventually unfolds but, by that time, it is quite difficult to have any interest in the story.

Webber and Isaac are faced with several difficulties due to financial troubles as well as the great emotional loss of Isaac’s mother. They make it a daily trip to go visit the grave sight of Isaac’s mother, but Isaac is much too young to remember his mother and to understand the meaning of death. He believes that the cemetery is only a park with flowers.

Webber is faced to deal with the tragic loss on his own, as young Isaac is only a child. The climax of the film is quite hard to distinguish because the plot is very bland. Webber is a low-budget actor trying to strive in the movie business in the Hollywood area, but no jobs are offered, nor available for him.

Having no one to care for Isaac while he is away and with no money to pay for a nanny, it is too difficult for Webber to find work. There are big actors included in the film such as Michael Cera, Amanda Seyfried, and Jason Ritter which gives viewers the impression that they are important characters, but they play very small roles that do not correlate well into the film. Amanda Seyfried, who is depicted as one of the main characters from the movie previews, is only in the film for a very minimal time.

Seyfried plays herself as Webber rehearses lines with her for an upcoming film. It was disappointing to find that expected actors, such as Seyfried, only had one small scene throughout the entire movie and had very little, if anything, to add to the storyline.

Webber is then turned down for the part because young Isaac interrupts the rehearsal too many times. Many of the scenes take place in Webber’s shared home in Los Angeles, in which he rents along with two other men. He fails to pay his share of the rent, so he borrows money from his good friend Jason Ritter, who plays himself, but is then forced to spend most of that money toward releasing his impounded car.

Because of Webber’s grave emotional struggle, he looks for small ways to escape reality, such as attending a party that is hosted by Michael Cera, who also plays himself. After getting drunk at Cera’s house, Webber wakes up then realizes that his son is still in the care of a babysitter that he had found online the previous night. Rushing home he gives the nanny the remainder of the small sum of money that he had borrowed from Ritter.

As Webber faces the responsibilities of being a father, he teaches his son the meaning of death by killing a goldfish, with the hope of explaining the loss of his mother to him in the near future.

This story unfolds very slowly, and the plot really does not go farther than that of a struggling widowed father who tries to support himself and his son. Because Isaac is Webber’s son in reality, the emotional ties in this film are very intense and intimate. Other than the surrealness of the film, it is not very entertaining and is quite difficult to keep focus on.

This independent film was fairly well in regards to cinematography and setting, but there is not much dialogue and the plot was very weak with an ending that does not help, nor add to the story.

‘The End of Love’ opened in theatres last Friday. This film is not yet rated, but may be unsuitable for anyone under the age of 17 due to the usage of certain abusive language.