Last Night (1998)

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Movie
German title The last night
Original title Last night
Country of production Canada
original language English
Publishing year 1998
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director Don McKellar
script Don McKellar
production Niv Fichman
Daniel Iron
music Alexina Louie
Alex Pauk
camera Douglas Cook
cut Reginald Harkema
occupation

Last Night (also: last night ) is a Canadian low-budget - drama with science fiction -Thematik of 1998 and the directorial debut of actor Don McKellar , who also designed the script and plays the main role. The ensemble film reflects on an end time and the last hours of humanity. The film was made in Toronto . The film started on May 18, 2000 in several German cinemas.

action

December 31, 1999 in Toronto, afternoon: at midnight ( UTC − 5h ) the world will end due to an unspecified cosmic event (perhaps a supernova ).

Easy listening and Christmas music are played non-stop on all radio stations . Destruction rage occurs only occasionally in the open air. The young widower Patrick Wheeler, a bit misanthropic , would like to spend the last hours of mankind alone in his apartment, to the horror of his family, who previously had turkey and values ​​manners. His mother whimpers, the father resigned. Duncan, the owner of the gas works, who has signed a suicide pact with his Asian wife Sandra, goes through the phone book from A – Z to 1.) personally thank all of his customers, 2.) assure that to the last Minute the supply is guaranteed. His pretty secretary Donna, who doesn't understand men, stays in the office with the contact exchange open in the web browser . Cars become free goods (Patrick: "We would have deserved better cars." ), City cleaning is obviously on strike at the millennium . Craig, friend of Alex, has been working the last few months in view of his imminent death to realize a comprehensive list of sexual fantasies, which also affects a former French teacher, and - physically drained and shaky on his feet - even makes himself homosexual on Patrick approached what he received with mixed feelings, but rejected. A beautiful, fragile-looking, ashen woman is on a tram that will never run again, downright paralyzed with her daughter in her arms (and spends the whole film there). Sandra urgently needs a phone to get to Duncan's home on time, and so meets Patrick, who has never got over his wife's death. It is becoming more and more dangerous on the streets, cell phones work even less than usual, i.e. not at all. A friend of Patrick's gives a (bad) piano concerto. Sandra no longer makes it to her husband.

Duncan's secretary loses her virginity with Craig in a win-win situation , who has not achieved everything he set out to do. Because the end of the game casts its shadow ahead, Duncan is shot in his apartment drinking champagne by a teenager (for no reason). Jenny Wheeler, the sister, celebrates with good friends on the street - in sunlight until the end. Patrick's grandmother, in front of the TV, is happy it's over. Patrick and Sandra spend the last few minutes on his terrace, “ Guantanamera ” in the version by Pete Seeger on the turntable , dizzyingly holding their pistols to each other's temples, and just kissing at the last moment. Statistically speaking, the human species ends with costumes, firecrackers, intoxication and countdown counting for the most part harmlessly and under the starry sky .

Reviews

  • “Remarkably, of all the films that have explored the potential end of the world in recent years, the least known and the one with the lowest budget is the best. […] Often in films, characters have no past, but these here lack a future ”( James Berardinelli )
  • “First work that outlines a series of individual abysses. The psychologically precise drama uses the popular genre of fantasy film as a vehicle for the unobtrusively formulated, but extremely complex message that every night can be the last and should be perceived as such. "( Lexicon of international films )

Entertainment Weekly spoke of "understated fatalism " and that the film was in a " slapstick and ice cold" state. Eugene Novikov describes: "a thoughtful, touching film, one without bangs and tricks [...] not so much about the end of the world as a concept", speaks of "stability and silence" and finds, in the roles of Patrick, Sandra and Duncan he would be interpreted excellently.

  • “How much do you enjoy fiddling with hypothetical questions? […] We are in Toronto, the world ends at midnight and everyone knows it - so well that most of them can no longer hear it. […] But the resolution of these miniature dramas doesn't really compensate for the 93-minute meditation on human mortality. And McKellar is a bit scratchy, and his nasal whining isn't exactly the last thing you want to hear on earth. "( Maitland McDonagh : TV Guide )

Efilmcritic.com notes that it doesn't even address the time zone question : “What midnight? Since when has Toronto been the center of the world? ”Explained Film Journal International,“ suffers somewhat from the limited perspective of its young creator. ”

Others

Don McKellar from Twitch City made a name for himself in Canadian film with the Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan , who is married to Arsinée Khanjian and made Sarah Polley famous on the international stage. B. a guest appearance in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ (next to Callum Keith Rennie ). In The Red Violin (R: François Girard , 1998) and Blindness (R: Fernando Meirelles , 2008), in which Sandra Oh occurs, he was involved as a screenwriter. The French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold played under Cronenberg's direction in Die Unzertrennlichen (1988).

Don McKellar said: "One hopes that some heroes out there are trying to save the world [...]"

Awards and nominations

International Cannes Film Festival 1998

  • Award of the Youth for Don McKellar (as "Foreign Film")

Fantasy postage 1999

  • Directors' Week Award for Best Director for Don McKellar

Genie Awards 1999

  • Genie in the category Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Callum Keith Rennie
  • Genie in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role category for Sandra Oh

and 10 nominations

Toronto International Film Festival 1998

  • Best Canadian First Feature Film for Don McKellar

Chlotrudis Awards 2000

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The IMDb lists seven more films with the title Last Night (March 31, 2009) http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=last+night&x=0&y=0
  2. ^ A b Last Night in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used
  3. ↑ Hunter, p. Web links.
  4. ↑ James Berardinelli: Last Night. In: www.reelviews.net. 1999, accessed on March 31, 2009 (English): "Of all the movies to be released in recent years about the potential end of the world, it is significant and ironic that the best is the one with both the lowest profile and the smallest budget. [...] Often in motion pictures, characters don't have pasts; these men and women lack futures "
  5. ↑ a b Wesley Morris: "Last Night 'a wacky apocalypse - Canadian fantasy chronicles the end of the world. In: San Francisco Chronicle . November 19, 1999, accessed on March 31, 2009 (English):" cynicism-lite [... ] pathos, irony and optimism […] The difference between us and our northern neighbors is that we send Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck into space to stop oblivion. "
  6. ^ Last Night (1999). In: Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc, November 5, 1999, accessed on March 31, 2009 (English): "understated fatalism [...] at once slapstick and ice-cool"
  7. ^ Eugene Novikov: Last Night (1998 / I). In: rec.arts.movies.reviews. 1999, accessed on April 1, 2009 (English, at IMDb ): "It's a thoughtful, affecting film, one that pulls no punches and plays no tricks [...] This is not about the end of the world as a concept [...] stability and calmness "
  8. ↑ Maitland McDonagh: Last Night: Review. In: TV Guide . Retrieved on March 31, 2009 (English): “How much do you enjoy kicking around hypothetical questions like,“ If you knew you had only six hours left to live, how would you spend it? ”[…] We're in Toronto , the world is going to end at midnight and everyone knows it - they've know it for long enough that plenty of them are sick of it. [...] But the impact of these small-scale dramas doesn't really compensate for having been put through 93 minutes of contemplating the mortality of the human race. And McKellar is a rather grating performer with whom to share such an experience; it's hard to imagine wanting his nasal whine to be the last voice you hear "
  9. ↑ Eric DSnider: Last Night - In Canada, people are fairly calm on the last day of the world. In: Efilmcritic. July 5, 2003, accessed April 1, 2009 : “Midnight in which time zone? Is Toronto the center of the world all of a sudden? "
  10. ↑ Eric Monder: Last Night. In: Film Journal International. Retrieved on March 31, 2009 (English): "Ultimately [...] hampered by the narrow imagination of its young creator"
  11. ^ "The king of Toronto cool himself," Entertainment Weekly.
  12. ↑ Christopher Null: Last Night (1998 / I). In: rec.arts.movies.reviews. 1999, accessed on April 1, 2009 (English, at IMDb ): "Those heroes are out there, somewhere, one hopes"