Last Night

"Last Day" is a really good film that shouldn't be watched by persons suffering from clinical depression. The first rate acting from a cast of Canadian regulars really draws the viewer in from the onset, totally absorbing you into their doomed world. I remember getting the same feeling during this film as I did with "The Day After" as both are able to make you forget very quickly that everything will be fine when the movie's finished. The excellent character development, sharp sense of irony, and stylish subtlety of the film create a near perfect calling card for the director whose future work will be much sought after.

Don McKellar directs/wrote/stars in one small movie that asks us... what is REALLY important?

The world is about to end (how is irrelevant) and we follow a (seemingly) random bunch of people as they fill there last hours.

On one level they all want to make dreams/desires/fantasies they've held onto happen. Our main character, Patrick Wheeler is caught between fulfilling his parents plans and his own.

I don't want to give too much of this simple, beautiful and heartfelt movie away, but I think it boils down to a question of opening ourselves up - to be less alone - and to let love in. I think that one thing Mr. McKellar is trying to say is that the power of love- true love (NOT lust) will get us through - no matter what the obstacle.

I've seen this movie several times, and am the last person to be swayed by big Hollywood films that try to "steer" you to "feel" for their characters. Last Night is NOT an action picture. It moves slowly, and builds to an ending that never fails to bring a tear to my eye. I hope you enjoy it is much as I do.

Don Mckellar's direction is outstanding in this typically edgy yet slyly romantic Canadian offering. Taking place during the last night on earth, the film expertly follows the lives of a group of people all of whom are dealing with the end of the world in their own inimitable ways. Yes, this is not something original but somehow Mckellar (who also acts in the the film) has fashioned a very watchable tale whose power lies in what we know is going to happen rather than how we get there. With a touch of off-beat Canadian humor the mundane and the surreal are often counterpointed to provide some dark humor, but the film's visual wit and wonderful use of music adds another eerie dimension. Mckellar never tells why the earth is coming to an end but there are enough 'bright' clues to satisfy the curious. It's a shame this film hasn't had more exposure. Perhaps its detached, deadpan wit was too Canadian for many.

The world is going to end at midnight; it's six pm now. The impending catastrophe has been known about for months but nothing can be done about it.

Government has been wound down. There's a certain amount of mayhem, looting, and bloodshed in the streets, but most of that ended weeks ago; now people are just quietly resigned. The nature of the disaster is never specified or even mentioned, but cleverly hinted at. Sooner or later you'll suddenly realise what it must be to do with, and when you do it's a breath-catching moment. Once you notice this, the closest thing the film has to a big special effect, it becomes increasingly appalling as time goes on.

There are to be no last-minute attempts to save the earth. They were known to be futile before the film begins. Instead, people calmly make preparations for their last night alive. It's a bit like wanting to do something special for your birthday. Craig (Callum Keith Rennie) is living out the four-letter answer most people would give if asked 'What would you do if the world was about to end' - as he has been, methodically and systematically, for the past few weeks. Sandra (Sandra Oh) is trying to get across the chaotic city to her beloved husband. Patrick (Don McKellar, who also wrote and directed, brilliantly) attends a last family meal and plans a quiet evening alone with a Pete Seeger record. Almost everyone else is heading downtown for the big end of the world party.

Flashes of black humour help make things bearable, but I can't convey how genuinely chilling and terribly moving the film becomes before the end. Pre-millennium there were a handful of end-of-the-world films, most based around big-budget special effects. For a grumpy misanthropist such as myself, who officially couldn't care if the world was to end, even a blockbuster disaster movie like Deep Impact was a salutary experience, making me realise that I really, really don't mean that, and that for all its travails and miseries life is precious. But by excluding special effects and scientific explanations, and precluding the possibility of averting the end, and focusing entirely on the human, Last Night is far, far better and left me drained and devastated.

I almost prefaced these remarks with a 'Don't watch this alone' but decided, nah, other people can be a pain when you're trying to watch a film. But if you watch it alone and late at night as I did, be warned that after the end you may feel a strong urge to make contact with one of those annoying other people, at 2 in the morning, a friend, a relative, your milkman, anyone.

But watch this you must, for it's a great cinematic work of art.

I have seen this film twice, and believe that it is certainly one of the best films of 1998. One person brought that people wouldn't be violent on the day when the world ends, but come together in a type of philosophical togetherness. I was stunned by that idea, assuming that the cynicism that permeates today's culture would have enforced that idea, that violence will be around. The end of the world is a violent thought, as exemplified in films such as Armageddon and Deep Impact (true, they were stupid films). But that aside, Last Night is a powerful and very introspective look at the lives of several people who's lives happen to be interwoven on the last day of the world. It begs the question "what would you do with the final six hours". Many have remarked on the tone, and I have to heap more praise on the subtle irony that is found throughout the film. Why is the world ending? The audience doesn't find out. Whether one's appreciation of the film diminishes or grows for this ambitious step is purely personal. For a ninety minute film, it's ambition in depicting six lives is interesting, and it's only mistake. For the movie to do justice to all the characters, it needed to be at least half an hour longer. But that singular flaw does not negate the film's final achievement.

The entire cast is sensational, even if they're on for short periods of time. Rennie and Oh took home well deserved Genie awards for their brilliant performances, but I felt McKellar's performance was the most intriguing. He has a talent for not poignant drama, but scenes of almost deadpan-type comedy (where Sandra asks him the favour).

Don McKellar has got to be among the most versatile writers around. After writing Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, the fragmented biopic about the famous pianist, and The Red Violin, another slightly fragmented story told through and about a violin, he wrote, directed, and starred in Last Night, and apocalyptic dramedy (or an ironic tragicomedy), and he does it with supreme style. Last Night is a film not to be missed, but to be pondered over and savoured.