NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES // A FILM REVIEW OF “THE END OF OAK STREET”
BY MATEO MORENO
THE END OF OAK STREET may be the biggest surprise of the summer. Not because it’ll be the box office champ of the summer (no way of dethroning Spidey), but because it’s truly wonderfully fun film that didn’t actually spoil everything in the trailers. Which is a hard thing to do nowadays, where people beg for fourteen trailers to dissect the film, they have yet to see instead of simply waiting. It has the vibe of Jurassic Park and the spirit and soul of early 80’s Spielberg. Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell (It Follows), The End of Oak Street follows a suburban American couple in 1982. They live a quaint, quiet life, joining their neighbors in outdoor activities. Says hi to all their neighbors. It feels like something straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. But there are cracks underneath. Denise (Anne Hathaway) feels like her life is spinning out of control. She respects and loves Greg (Ewan McGregor) but feels underappreciated and often invisible. Greg is always at work and never home when she truly needs them. Their small fights are starting to get noticed by their two teenage kids Audrey and Brian (Maisy Stella, Christina Convery). Denise has been writing a novel in secret, one about an unhappy home life that very closely resembles her own life. Both of the kids have their own secrets, and the “perfect” family life seems like it might just be slipping away.
That is, until one night when Brian sees a bright blue light in the sky. He doesn’t know what it is and no one else seems to have seen it. Yet that next day, Denise is visiting her elderly neighbor and finds an unusual tree in the back, one that strangely looks like a species that died out roughly around 200 million years ago. That following night, the blinding blue light returns, but this time the entire family sees it. Thinking it’s part of a storm that’s knocked out power in the neighborhood, the family all gathers to sleep in the living room. However, when they wake up the next morning, the find out that it was not a storm at all, but somehow, their entire neighborhood has been transported back to the prehistoric times and there are now a whole lot of dangers lurking in their neighborhood, including giant tortoises, massively huge slithering snakes and of course dinosaurs. Lots of them. The film quickly lets you know that this is not going to be your average big studio dino flick: these dinosaurs are vicious and no one in this film is safe. Which makes quite an interesting change of pace for a summer blockbuster. Having real stakes and some truly terrifying sequences makes The End of Oak Street a breath of fresh air. Not to mention that the film is very fun and nearly non-stop in its action. Also refreshing are how well the characters are defined. Each of the family members have their own unique personality instead of just being sister, brother, mom and dad. Even the neighbors are pretty well defined, each one being introduced to later flesh out the plot.
Anne Hathaway anchors the film with a fierce, strong and finely tuned performance that’s thrilling to watch. Ewan McGregor is charming and multi-dimensional. Their love story is presented as an adult one: it’s on the rocks but no one is to blame. Life is simply hard sometimes, and writer/director David Robert Mitchell has wisely written them as very human characters, leaving the two skilled actors to fully flesh them out wonderfully. The kids are great here too, especially Maisy Stella and Christian Convery as Audrey and Brian. Both are strong on their own and work really great together. Playing their new neighbor Jeannette Christiansen, Jordan Alexa Davis rounds out the kids making a great trio. The film also alludes to a romantic connection between Audrey and Jeannette, making a rare time where a big-budget summer movie includes sweet but subtle queer story. Although the ending maybe wraps up a bit too neatly, it’s a small grip for a film that’s this refreshing. THE END OF OAK STREET is definitely the most unique surprise of the year.
GRADE: B+
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY David Robert Mitchell STARRING Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis NOW PLAYING IN THEATRES EVERYWHERE