In the Country of Last Things (1987) becomes among Paul Auster first novels - short after NY Trilogy- its first and only approach -as far as I know- into sci-fi, describing a world in B&W, where hope is been lost and the only thing left is a fight for survival in a dystopian South American city.
Although seem shocking to follow the story in these terms, it does keep up the original spirit pretty well, with minor changes (some names). Its rather low budget takes the story tiptoeing fast over the whole film in over 80', missing a deeper approach into the characters and their story of despair; yet performances are fair good enough for this Dominican - Argentinian production. Don't miss a couple of eye winks into the Paul Auster world, - the novel Anna Blume is reading in the Residence and the picture of Dr. Woburn on the wall.
Minor movie compared to other Paul Auster high budget adaptations like Smoke (1994) or The Music of Chance (1993), "In the Country of Last Things" may not be among my favorites I'm afraid, yet is not a bad one.
If you belong to Paul Auster world, it is a must-see movie.
I can't help though asking myself what would have a North American production got out of it? Maybe we shall never know or ....should we really ever need to know otherwise? Probably not.
