The Internet is a wonderful place, and one of the more wonderful aspects is Facebook. Early one Sunday morning I received a friend request from someone called Ty Jones. I'd not heard of Ty before but looked and realised we had mutual acquaintances. Soon after accepting I became familiar very quickly with a movie called Last Breath. You see Ty is a man who's out there making films and using the power of the Internet and more notably social networking to spread the word. This is a guy who's not just sat there waiting for the world to discover his movie, he is out there making sure he tells the world about it. Last Breath is Ty's labour of love; he's written the movie, directed it and starred in it, now here he is out there promoting it.
Michael and Tina have been together a while, they have a child and are making their way through life. For Michael there is a whole new future in his business, new premises will mean great opportunities for expansion. For Tina however it's a different matter, she sees fault in everything and is constantly battling with her doubts, but then maybe she has good reason. This couple are at a crossroads in their life, its time to move forward together or go it alone, well alone for one of them anyway. A visit for the couple to Michael's new premises throws them the ultimate curve-ball, for deep within the heart of the building lies a cruel sadistic man with a point to make, have the couple walked into their worst nightmare?
If you see the trailer for Last Breath you would be very much persuaded that you are about to see the next "torture porn" and maybe this is what the producers intention was; but there is more to Last Breath than a bit of cheap horror. This is a very strange synergy of two genre types, the afternoon movie aimed squarely at the female audience, and the horror aspect aimed at the male viewer; you think as a fan of horror movies you have seen just about every genre combination but Last Breath is something very different.
While Last Breath is without a doubt very different, I won't necessarily say it's new. To be honest I saw the movies message a mile off, but then I watch too many movies for my own good. As soon as the movie enters the torture element, I saw its message loud and clear, but that does not make it a bad thing. The delivery of the movie is clear, there is a strong message of morality, and every single plot element and device is met, no stone left unturned.
For the person seeking morality there are messages here as pure as the less disturbing chapters of the Bible. For the horror film enthusiast there is a torture device on offer that's pure Saw territory.
It won't come as a surprise that Last Breath is an independent movie, a film dreamt about with passion but delivered on a tight budget. What is great is that despite the movies low budget it looks bloody good quality for the money. So many of these independent movies look hazy, almost like they have been filmed in a steamy bathroom; this is clear and crisp like any big budget offering.
Both Ty Jones and Aaron Laue deliver very convincing performances, but a quick scan of the credits makes it obvious that these are more than just actors in the movie. And this is where my issue lies, while both the male performers put their heart and soul into this, the female characters seem much less committed. I'm not sure of the relationships of the people involved in the movie, but I felt no commitment from the main female characters. Mandy Bannon reminds me so much of a young Mink Stole, and it strikes me that maybe she still has not grasped the difference between screen and theatre acting, but a newcomer to the screen she'll have time to rectify that and I look forward to her future roles.
While the movie has good and bad aspects the key thing is here is a group of people making it happen, a low budget movie is seeing film festivals across the United States and getting very good reports. And now the producers are looking at getting the movie seen across the world.
When and however you get to see the movie, and this might not be an easy task for some reading this, I really hope you take the time to see this, for while being a clear moral story, its also a lesson in self belief. Last Breath proves that dreams can come true and if you have a cinematic dream this movie will show you it really can come true.
