8 h. ago Apocalypse constantly: The perverse reasons we love to watch ourselves die on screen

From ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ and ‘Planet of the Apes’ to ‘Deep Impact’ and ‘Don’t Look Up’, nothing seems to bring audiences together faster than a glimpse at the end of the world. As Tilda Swinton sings through the apocalypse in her new film, Xan Brooks dives into cinema’s most curious lineage

Events

61 h. ago Why Sunshine on Leith actor George MacKay is singing about climate crisis in his new film

An apocalyptic musical raises questions about survival for the shape-shifting actor

Events

3 d. ago George MacKay on Tilda Swinton, 'chafing' salt burns and apocalyptic musical The End

George MacKay is one of the finest and bravest young actors around and The End may be his most challenging yet

Events

3 d. ago The End review: all down to the bunker for Joshua Oppenheimer’s bananas, post

Tilda Swinton and George MacKay lead the shaky singalong in a strange tale that could have been a masterpiece

Politics

3 d. ago The End is a chilling climate apocalypse story stretched over the bones of an MGM musical

Acclaimed documentarian behind ‘The Act of Killing’ Joshua Oppenheimer turns his hand to fiction for this socially charged musical

Science

5 d. ago The End review – end of the world singalong drama commands attention

There are very good performances from Michael Shannon and Tilda Swinton, who go to ground in a survival bunker with their son, only to come across an uninvited guestThe end of the world is usually only thought about with horror. But Joshua Oppenheimer’s unearthly musical drama, set in a fossil-fuel oligarch’s luxury survival bunker, replaces that with something even worse: sadness. And then something even more wrenchingly unbearable; not hope exactly, but a strange sense that it might not be the end, but an evolutionary transitional stage to something else, something unknowable, something that makes humanity’s current state even tinier than simple annihilation.Michael Shannon and Tilda Swinton play the last super-rich couple in the world. He is a breezily self-assured energy magnate and she a former ballerina. After an environmental catastrophe 25 years ago, they retreated from civil disorder, deep underground into an eerily well-appointed suite of rooms with food, air and medicines...

Events

2 w. ago Tilda Swinton explains why she’s taking break from acting: ‘I’m going to be sleeping in my own bed again’

‘I’ve been in a spin cycle for much too long,’ said actor

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Musicals can be quite sinister’: Tilda Swinton and Joshua Oppenheimer on bonkers bunker singalong The End

Inspired by a Russian tycoon’s survival bunker, the pair’s post-apocalyptic tale takes in environmental collapse, our facades and delusions – and big ol’ show tunesTime is short for the family at the heart of Joshua Oppenheimer’s new film. Mother, Father and their adult son eke out their days in an underground bunker with the walls decorated with priceless old masters, fine wine on the table and half a mile of bedrock above their heads. They gather each evening for formal dinners. They sing upbeat songs to keep the darkness at bay. “We thrive in our happily-ever-after,” they burble. “Together our future is bright.”Time is similarly tight for the writer-director and his star when they beam in via video link from Berlin. It’s the last day of the film festival, a late scramble towards the finish line, and Oppenheimer and Tilda Swinton are each working to a separate stopwatch. Oppenheimer is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion; Swinton is booked on a plane out of town...

Politics

3 w. ago Manchester Film Festival returns with Steve Coogan, Damon Hill and Tilda Swinton movies

From a F1 documentary to an apocalyptic musical from Tilda Swinton, there's more than 50 films on the line-up

Culture