Last Night

I found LAST NIGHT quite thought-provoking and moving the first time I saw it and its impact on me has only grown over time. This is an amazingly sophisticated and well-executed film for a first-time director. What I find thrilling about it is both the fine balance it finds between ideas and emotional resonance and its sense of tonal unity and control. The images and music have stayed with me for years. Despite the melancholic events of the story and the sense of loss that permeates the film (after all, we are talking about the end of the world here), a mordant sense of humour and finally a romantic, optimistic heart leavens the story's darkness, without pushing the movie into cheap sentimentality or melodrama (Armageddon, anyone?). All this and only one of the most memorable closing images in modern film! Seek it out. It's worth it.

I have seen this film twice, and believe that it is certainly one of the best films of 1998. One person brought that people wouldn't be violent on the day when the world ends, but come together in a type of philosophical togetherness. I was stunned by that idea, assuming that the cynicism that permeates today's culture would have enforced that idea, that violence will be around. The end of the world is a violent thought, as exemplified in films such as Armageddon and Deep Impact (true, they were stupid films). But that aside, Last Night is a powerful and very introspective look at the lives of several people who's lives happen to be interwoven on the last day of the world. It begs the question "what would you do with the final six hours". Many have remarked on the tone, and I have to heap more praise on the subtle irony that is found throughout the film. Why is the world ending? The audience doesn't find out. Whether one's appreciation of the film diminishes or grows for this ambitious step is purely personal. For a ninety minute film, it's ambition in depicting six lives is interesting, and it's only mistake. For the movie to do justice to all the characters, it needed to be at least half an hour longer. But that singular flaw does not negate the film's final achievement.

The entire cast is sensational, even if they're on for short periods of time. Rennie and Oh took home well deserved Genie awards for their brilliant performances, but I felt McKellar's performance was the most intriguing. He has a talent for not poignant drama, but scenes of almost deadpan-type comedy (where Sandra asks him the favour).

Don McKellar has got to be among the most versatile writers around. After writing Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, the fragmented biopic about the famous pianist, and The Red Violin, another slightly fragmented story told through and about a violin, he wrote, directed, and starred in Last Night, and apocalyptic dramedy (or an ironic tragicomedy), and he does it with supreme style. Last Night is a film not to be missed, but to be pondered over and savoured.

i never realized how beautiful a song Guantanamera was, until i heard it in this movie. Whenever i hum the tune nowadays, i can't help but think of Last Night(and the last scene). Ihighly recommend seeing Miracle Mile, after you've see Last Night. It is as close to an American version of this film as you are ever going to see. It is almost just as good. In my opinion, the best line in the movie comes when the old woman makes the very politially incorrect statement, that she tired of hearing about the children,because they are too young to miss anything. If the world weren't ending in a few minutes, you know she wouldn't be exposing her true feelings. I loved this film, beginning to end.

"Last Day" is a really good film that shouldn't be watched by persons suffering from clinical depression. The first rate acting from a cast of Canadian regulars really draws the viewer in from the onset, totally absorbing you into their doomed world. I remember getting the same feeling during this film as I did with "The Day After" as both are able to make you forget very quickly that everything will be fine when the movie's finished. The excellent character development, sharp sense of irony, and stylish subtlety of the film create a near perfect calling card for the director whose future work will be much sought after.

Don Mckellar's direction is outstanding in this typically edgy yet slyly romantic Canadian offering. Taking place during the last night on earth, the film expertly follows the lives of a group of people all of whom are dealing with the end of the world in their own inimitable ways. Yes, this is not something original but somehow Mckellar (who also acts in the the film) has fashioned a very watchable tale whose power lies in what we know is going to happen rather than how we get there. With a touch of off-beat Canadian humor the mundane and the surreal are often counterpointed to provide some dark humor, but the film's visual wit and wonderful use of music adds another eerie dimension. Mckellar never tells why the earth is coming to an end but there are enough 'bright' clues to satisfy the curious. It's a shame this film hasn't had more exposure. Perhaps its detached, deadpan wit was too Canadian for many.