It was only a matter of time before Jodie Comer's latest movie stormed up Netflix's rankings – I've been watching it climb at pace in the UK, where it's now the official new no.1 in the best streaming service's top 10 chart.
The End We Start From appeared for a short cinema run at the beginning of 2024 – and I distinctly remember Comer, the movie's protagonist, promoting it on various chat shows ahead of release. She looks as you've never seen her before in many scenes: pregnant and acting as a young mother.
And while you may know Comer from runaway successes such as the show Killing Eve – and that's one reason she's a master of accents – in The End We Start From she owns her native Liverpudlian accent. As you can see from the trailer below, she delivers "a career-defining performance":
The End We Start From is a disaster movie of sorts, but one that looks to the humanity and moments of love over strife. I'm not saying it's cheery, per se, as bleakness is this flick's very setting.
Critics and audiences also can't decide how they feel about it. Sure, Comer's performance is largely lauded, but the overall movie has the Rotten Tomatoes scores sitting at 88% from critics but just 66% from audience reviews.
That's quite a wide divide to start with, but if you go over to IMDb's site then the overall 59% equivalent rating is even lower. Clearly, then, the movie's themes and sensitivity have opinions split – and I suspect that'll only increase, as this one's hardly a classic summer blockbuster (despite being well worth a watch).
It's good to see a British movie top the Netflix chart, though, furthering the streaming service's diverse listings. In recent times we've seen a whole host of chart-toppers, from Godzilla: Minus One (Japanese), to Under Paris (French).
Netflix has plenty of competition, though, with Apple TV+, for example, really upping its game of late: from the quirky-looking sci-fi Sunny, to the Matt Damon-starring thriller The Instigators. That's why we call it 'the sci-fi streaming king'.
How long will The End We Start From remain as Netflix's new no.1? Only time will tell. With so much landing on the service of late, there's no lack of great movies and shows to watch – so there's always jostling between the most-watched selections.
