The Last Race

You don't need to be a fan of stock car racing to appreciate "The Last Race," a beautiful portrait of a vanishing piece of Americana.

The film examines a small-town race track, the blue-collar players that inhabit it and the close-knit community that revolves around it. Throughout the film it's impossible to stay apathetic to the sight of local heroes (race car drivers), the elderly track owners and the characters that frequent the race track who might lose their beloved track to real-estate development greed.

The film is loaded with life-or-death stakes (even thought the film couldn't be further away from NASCAR's world), intimate camerawork and impressive sound design. Director Michael Dweck uses long takes and little talk, and lets the environment and visuals do all the explaining.

Dweck found beauty in an unusual place and has shared it with all who care to look at it.

From start to finish . . . From the title to the closing credits . . . This was a negative depressing presentation. It dwelled on the "junk" classes that race at Riverhead . . . The dregs of racing . . . The despair of the Cromartys. Ugh.

It never mentioned or displayed the top class . . . The Modifieds . . . Which are very fast, very costly race cars driven by very accomplished wheelmen. The production made Riverhead look like a little hick track that is standing in the way of progress . . . I.e. Another damn Wal-Mart.

This is a well-produced piece of trash that does nothing but hurt the sport of racing.

I am not sorry that I watched but I damn well will not recommend it to anyone for fear of triggering a dismal look at motorsports . . . And life in general.

Interesting documentary about racing car culture and how it all works. I was excited to see this and had high expectations. There are some long shots without audio. Some parts are bland but in general a good watch.

I'm a huge grassroots, Saturday night racing fan. I was very excited to see this after seeing the trailer. However it is painfully slow, poorly edited and an hour plus of my time that I won't get back. It gets a three with me because some of the interviews are very good. However most of this is just long silent shots with absolutely no context. Just adding a narrator to this would have dramatically increased the reviews. Such a disappointment.

Let me start off by saying that I am a grassroots racing fan. Growing up, Saturday night was the night to go to the track with my dad and watch the asphalt gladiators do battle. I was fortunate enough to be able to race at my home track for a little while and will cherish those moments forever. Our track also went through owner changes, sitting dormant for a year and NASCAR affiliation coming and going. I saw this film advertised on Facebook, but unfortunately the trailer pretty much sums up the entire film. There are some real moments, such as the interview with the track owner towards the end of the film and the driver speaking of winning a race for his father after he had passed. The film does show what the track means to the racing community, especially being an area where so many tracks were prevalent during the birth of auto racing. That being said, this film is entirely too slow. The majority of the content is absolutely nothing. The opening scene set the tone for the film. I can appreciate the message that the film does loosely deliver, but it failed to deliver with any true excitement. There is some cool racing footage in the film, but most of it is just oddly misplaced here and there. Again, I can appreciate the people in the film and the message being made, but I feel it could've been portrayed in an entire different light.