Comforting but stale

'IT ENDS WITH US': EXPLORATION OF TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF LOVE, TRAUMA, RESILIENCE

- Thami Kwazi

• Film's impact is diminished by uneven dialogue and pacing issues.

Interestingly enough, Showmax and Netflix chose to load the same movie at the same time. Giving people options to which platform they want to watch from.

It Ends with Us, directed by Justin Baldoni and released on 9 August, 2024, is a cinematic adaptation of Colleen Hoover's 2016 best-selling novel.

I never read the novel so I went into watch this movie with fresh eyes and no reservations.

The film stars Blake Lively as Lily Bloom, a florist in Boston, alongside Baldoni as neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, Brandon Sklenar as Atlas Corrigan, Jenny Slate, and Hasan Minhaj.

The main theme of the movie is generally based violence. So trigger warning anyone who might find the subject upsetting. And a warning, the movie does get upsetting.

The narrative follows Bloom, a woman determined to overcome a traumatic childhood by pursuing her dream of opening a floral shop in Boston.

Her life takes a passionate turn when she meets the charismatic Kincaid, a neurosurgeon with a complex personality. As their relationship deepens, Bloom confronts unsettling parallels to her parents' troubled marriage, especially when her first love, Atlas Corrigan, reenters her life, challenging her perceptions of love and loyalty.