A not-survival-savvy millennial couple head for the country to unplug from modernity while the world goes to pot in this winning tale
This end-of-the-world
comedy premiered at Sundance in January 2020 – in the Before Time – and, had the
Coronavirus pandemic not struck, directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s unabashedly micro-budget lark might have felt slight, contrived or negligible. Instead, given the circumstances, it feels oddly prescient, resonant and surprisingly moving, although it doesn’t quite stick the landing. Still, for the most part it manages an adept balance between satire, sincerity and sheer silliness that’s ultimately winning.
The basic donnée has childless, heterosexual millennial couple Su (Sunita Mani from Glow) and Jack (John Reynolds) yearning to disconnect for a while from all the electronic dummies we can’t stop sucking on: phones, laptops, digital assistants. A friend offers them a cabin to stay in where they can enjoy lazy hours in a rowboat, to learn how to split logs with an axe (Jack is hilariously bad at this), and time to really connect with each other and their deepest feelings. After watching an unexpected meteor shower (shades of The Day of the Triffids), Su and Jack are puzzled when they notice a fluffy pouffé-like sphere on the floor that they don’t remember seeing before. Even more concerning: something has eaten all the sourdough starter and artisanal whiskey.