Set entirely in some bleak, mismatched motel room, George F. Walker's The End of Civilization is an oppressive sign of the times. It's a dreary, well-acted examination of the state of mind of what must be thousands of middle-class North Americans in the core of a ruptured economy. Henry (Elliott James) loses his job and takes to the road to find work, his housewife Lily (Delia Barnett) by his side. Weeks elapse and Henry remains unemployed, his escalating frustration taking on an entity all its own. When a pair of bomb threats and multiple murders lead homicide detectives (Jeff Page and Adam Cope) to Henry's motel suite, the drama unravels itself, exposing the sombre realisms of our delicate sanity.

Three and a half out of five stars.