‘It Ends’: A Phenomenal Look At Gen-Z Ennui [SXSW 2025 Review]
There’s been a steady rise in emerging Gen-Z filmmakers within the past few years. Several debuts, including Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby and Cooper Raiff’s Shithouse, have spoken to the plight of the generations’ personal anxieties around entering adulthood with nuanced emotional maturity, sharp writing, and sheer originality. 27-year-old Alexander Ullom’s excellent debut, It Ends, fits right alongside such a pantheon through a genre-bending existentialist road trip nightmare addressing the uncertainty of growing apart from the ones you’re closest to and the never-ending purgatory of adulthood.
Recent college graduates—James (Phinehas Yoon), a psychoanalytic realist, Day (Akira Jackson) a thoughtful observer, and high-spirited Fisher (Noah Toth)—carpool back to their hometown in their easy-going and simplistic military friend Tyler’s (Mitchell Cole) Jeep. Through their initial conversation, it’s clear they’re about to enter a new stage in their lives, one that doesn’t really involve each other. They also engage in a silly debate over what number of hawks, gorillas, rats, and gun-wielding people would win if two were to protect and the rest to attack.
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After a little squabbling, the friends notice something about their route back home is off. Tyler’s GPS has them drive through the woods in one direction. James berates him, saying that they took a wrong turn, but Tyler is certain. They stop the car to investigate, only to discover that there’s only an endless road. To make matters worse, a mob of people charges towards the car, akin to the Wildebeest scene from The Lion King. Tyler and James return and immediately drive off with everyone freaking out, questioning what reality become. Are they dead? Is this purgatory? Why does the car have endless gas? As the group drives countless miles, they try to make the most out of their harrowing existentialist nightmare as their patience is put to the ultimate test.
I apologize for the upcoming pun, but honestly, for a story set within the confines of a car, Ullom’s gets unlimited mileage out of its bleak premise through sharp precision, especially from a screenwriting front.
The tightly written first act details every facet of this friend group as the weight of their history is felt in small exchanges. But, the weight of their future looms over them in each mile even before they learn they’re in a presumed purgatory. Ullom takes bold steps to establish his ensemble in an authentic and entertaining light. Their silly meme-based debate lends to establishing the traits and personalities of each of the respective characters, a smart and refreshing writing technique that only gets cleverer as It Ends progresses.
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Despite its harrowing premise, Ullom imbues the picture with sharp dry humor that shifts gears from its existentialist situational horror route to an existentialist authentic portrait of being a Gen Z’er just trying to exist. It Ends surrealistically captures the truth of young folks distracting themselves from the never-ending soul-crushing pain of venturing an endless path into the unfamiliar, by pursuing entertaining joy, even after tragedy.
From beginning to end, It Ends is wildly immersive as Ullom’s direction embeds you into the friend group, letting you experience their shared fear and claustrophobia. He makes great use of tight close-ups and overhead shots that all help build the film’s dreadful atmosphere.
Much like its filmmaker, every cast member in the car deserves to become a star. This is possibly the best set of breakthrough performances you’re going to find this year, as each actor holds their own and depicts these friend groups’ distinct camaraderie with one another compellingly. From the start, they have such a tight family bond, feeling the history of their friendship through their discussions and willingness to show vulnerability. The ensemble all delivers with sheer confidence, making even some of the clunkiest dialogue choices land with weight.
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But two performances in particular stand out. The first is Phineas Yoon as James. James is the Squidward-type of the group. He thinks he’s more emotionally mature than he actually is (so early-20s coded) to the point he ostracizes everyone else in the car. He can be seen as such an annoying character, but Yoon’s humanistic approach to him in his portrayal makes him feel so realized. Then there’s Akira Jackson as Day, who at one point is positioned as the mediator and rule-bearer of in-car etiquette, and she powerfully carries that torch.
Alexander Ullom’s It Ends is a smart and inventive genre-bending experience that feels grand in scale, but is limited in literal space. It’s a unique tale that speaks to the terrifying, unforgiving circumstance of entering the world as a full-fledged adult. It’s unlike any psychological thriller you’ve ever seen and it’ll leave you questioning your own existence by the end.
Summary
Alexander Ullom’s It Ends is a smart and inventive genre-bending experience.
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