(Canada, 83 min.)
Dir. Jennifer Liao, Writ. Christina Ray
Starring: Carolyne Maraghi, Mark O’Brien, Paulino Nunes,
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Janet Porter, Anna Ferguson, Yulia Petrauskas
What’s worse: living a boring 9 to 5 existence or going down
in the apocalypse? The end is nigh in the Canuck comedy End of Days, Inc., which puts a quartet of worker drones in the
hellish flames of a workplace that just might be run by Satan. The minions
of Godfrey Global close up shop on their last day of work, but they receive an
odd proposal from the boss Mr. Godfrey (Paulino Nunes) who insists they all
attend a farewell party to receive their final paychecks. Sometimes it’s best
to punch out and take a loss.
Checking out might be the better option here since End of Days, Inc. doesn’t deliver on the potential of its premise. The film shows a lot of promise for director Jennifer Liao as she creates a speculative atmosphere out of virtually nothing except for a bizarre script and some wackadoodle performances, but this lo-fi maplecore pic has too many inconsistencies in tone to be weirdly funny or compellingly provocative. It’s at least intriguing for a while as the employees of Godfrey Global—square yes-woman Janet (Carolyne Maraghi), stiff dweeb Jason (Mark O’Brien), saucy receptionist Misty (Janet Porter), and uptight ass-kisser Mort (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee)—try to decide just what the heck is going on as Godfrey and his sister/partner-in-crime Esther (Anna Ferguson) task the workers with a final assignment.
Things get really weird as Godfrey starts punching holes in
the stock cards that flutter about the building and as news comes over the
radio waves reporting a fluctuating toll of catastrophes. There might be
better material for a short in End of
Days, Inc. since the film struggles to maintain the mysterious atmosphere
and farcical beat. A few too many moments are
desperate, like one scene in which a zombified employee eats a used condom in the
supply closet, while most other jokes simply play like filler and land with a
thud. Ferguson, however, has the right calibre of macabre humour among the cast
to sell the part of Esther with ghoulish novelty, but other players might
have viewers searching their bags for hole punchers. The silver lining is some
confetti to celebrate the end.
End of Days, Inc. opens in Toronto at the Carlton on Feb. 19.
Director Jennifer
Liao will attend the Friday 7:00 PM screening for a Q&A with producer Sandy
Kellerman and actors Carolyne Maraghi, Paulino Nunes, Janet Porter, Anna
Ferguson, Yulia Petrauskas
