The Last Movie

The Last Movie is one of those rare films that gets into the heads of actors. The character of Elizabeth, who is about to play the part of a femme fatale in a remake of a Russian noir thriller, is played beautifully by Elizabeth Gondek. To play the part she must get inside the head of a murderess and apply her own life to the part. It is done with great subtlety and the results are a curious madness that kept me fascinated. The overall writing and direction by Bruce Pittman is beautifully crafted and kept me guessing with all its twists and turns. The recreation of the original Russian noir film is totally convincing. Nataliya Alyexeyenko as Nastya captures the spirit of Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice and Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. The lighting and camera work by Rick Wincenty perfectly recreates those fabulous films of the 40's, smooth and flawless. The Last Movie is a very different kind of thriller with the visions of classic noir blended with a modern story. Hope to see more from Bruce Pittman.

I was knocked out by the power of it, by the surprising way it builds and the turn it takes once Elizabeth Seitz comes on the scene. She is a fabulous actress and she completely captivated me.

I was reminded of The Black Swan, which exploits mental illness for its revulsion factor, Darren Aronofsky's forte. The Last Movie is not exploitative, but rather points a critical finger at the professional creative community who can easily push fragile creative minds over the edge. I know this happens. When Elizabeth says, "...or too much too late" we know things aren't going well.  Bruce Pittman's performance as Nick Crawley the director of the remake, adds a comic layer. All his puffy-cheeked sighs and 'Oh-boys' and bad dreams give us a peek at the ordinariness of creative work. The producer's appearances via Skype are true-to-life and specific, so we don't just see the cliché money-man ruining the precious creative vision. I love the whole discussion of female actors' beauty vs talent. And all the juicy details about movie-making, like wardrobe and lighting tests – I eat that stuff up. I found Nick's wish to make high art while doing a low-budget commercial remake of a so-so foreign film acquired for virtually no money pretty rich. This feeling works perfectly with the fact that Elizabeth is pushed towards her edge in a fairly irresponsible way by this ambitious and cynical director. The scene where Nick records his thoughts on his career is really strong. It seeds that awful flashlight-under-the-chin hallucination of Nick's face, as seen in the trailer.  I like all the sort of multimedia editing and the cutting-in of the documentary-in-the-making with all the echoes and computer screen treatments that a young documentarian would use. The way Pittman has mixed together the stylish noir photography of the Russian movie, the very current special-features doc look, and the straight realism of Elizabeth's story makes for a richly layered film that left me with lots to think about. It's one of those movies, like Shutter Island, that when you watch it the second time, it's like watching a whole different film.

I cannot understand all the other positive reviews. The movie was boring and seems like an exercise that some student had in a film school. This is a movie about movies and how they are made. The concept is not bad but the presentation was just boring. The pace is slow and not much is really happening most of the time, thought the acting was actually OK.

As the movie progresses it becomes more and more bizarre and I couldn't wait for it to end. I suspect that movie students and critics would love this movie but for all of the rest, you could probably pick a better one.

The opening half of the last movie traces the efforts of an independent

filmmaker to do a remake of a Russian thriller. It seamlessly combines healthy doses

of the original Russian film with both a documentary of the making of the film and the private tribulations the director goes through to make the film.

The last half involves the casting of a new actress to play the femme fatale in the

New film. Here is where the film becomes a psychological thriller in the tradition

of Polanski's Repulsion.

Hats off to a film that tries to be a little different from the current fare.

Other reviews were so praiseworthy, decided to check out this unknown title; now suspect other reviewers were somehow attached to the making of the film.

Acting is wooden, unnatural, and flat. Script is poor - suspenseful music for lines that lack power, sometimes expressed using blocky syntax.

Sound is poor quality.

Biggest problem is cinematography - presentation of unusual angles looks amateurish, since sometimes makes action difficult to follow. The editing is choppy, so changes in camera angles and scenes distracts from what is happening. Special effects look cheap and outdated.

If you don't care much about cinematography, you might still find this film worth watching; but for me, the combination of all these negatives makes it not worth finishing.