The Last Hurrah

The Last Hurrah is both a cinematic love letter to the film noir genre and a story well-told with an economy of words.

From the opening shot, the movie establishes the social zeitgeist that set the stage for the film noir movement. In short form, it reflects the themes and images of post-WWII anxiety, cynicism, and pushback against society's expectations with regard to gender roles.

As is often true of such films, the story concerns a man, a woman, and money. We are left to imagine how they got the money, but their relationship is revealed over the course of a mere 17-1/2 minutes. This is accomplished with the deft use of dialogue and deep focus photography, not to mention a score and set decoration that complement the story. There is even the fleeting bit of foreshadowing squeezed in, here and there.

This is a captivating little film that captures the spirit of film noir, while telling an entire story without wasting a shot. A must-see for film noir enthusiasts.

Although everything of the film, its poster, summary and even its name scream out that it's set in the 1940s, it still is a pleasant surprise to hear the opening overture and the perfectly chosen credit sequence that immediately takes you back to the likes of Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock or Michael Curtiz; nostalgia may be occasionally overrated these days but not in this case. As soon as the leads begin to interact it has the feel of a classic film, not only from the choice of simple and straight forward dialogue but from the interaction of male and female characters, although thankfully has progressed since the 40s, it is rather a predominant factor, which no film noir homage could really be complete without. That quality even extends to the way the actors speak, their body language and the way that emotion is very much held back for the most part, feelings were much less on the surface and messy than modern films portray.

The aspect that rounds out the classic film noir atmosphere is the set and costume designs, both of which it's clear to see a lot of effort has been made to create an era appropriate environment for the film which is very effective. As things get more heated the chemistry between the two actors is not overly strong but given the setting it doesn't have a negative effect, instead the score and direction fill the gap with tension and the feeling that there's some impending explosion between the two of them, you just don't know what it will be. Aleksandra Vujcic provides the femme fatale to Michael Bronte's masculine, All-American con-man, Vujcic as Petra, a dangerous pairing who you can never decide if their relationship is based on love, hatred, competition, jealousy or resentment but it's certainly interesting to watch unfold.

Overall the film is an impressive homage to an era of classic film, it immediately imparts a higher quality to the film which is backed up with the detail that's gone into making it. Those lovers of classic film will particularly enjoy it but it is also a well put together and executed short film.