There’s a ton of local flavor in director Ari Selinger’s “On the End,” a small-scale film that takes a modest true story from Montauk and turns it into an unpretentious drama about love, loss, and the corrosive power of gentrification. It’s not the most riveting or cinematic of real life tales, but it’s told with enough sincerity and specificity to make it worth the investment.
Tim Blake Nelson brings his trademark gravelly warmth to Tom Ferreira, a stubborn, world-weary mechanic whose small beachfront repair shop becomes the latest casualty in Montauk’s war between old-timers and the newly wealthy. Tom’s unlikely romance with fellow outsider Freckles (Mireille Enos) gives the story an emotional touch, especially when the town conspires to remove the pair from their home. Their chemistry lends an understated, genuine look at two lonely people finding something worth fighting for.
As the plot shifts from intimate character drama to backroads courtroom showdown, the film starts to creak under the weight of its own earnestness. Selinger’s direction leans into melodrama and familiar beats, with swelling music and righteous speeches that make it feel more like a Sunday night television movie than an indie breakthrough.
Still, there’s a lived-in truth to its setting and performances that keeps it grounded. Locals will undoubtedly recognize the pain of seeing their hometown reshaped by greed, while wider audiences may find the stakes a bit provincial.
Solid yet sentimental, “On the End” is certainly heartfelt, well acted, and just self aware enough to make its small story feel meaningful.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 