The Last Race

You don't need to be a fan of stock car racing to appreciate "The Last Race," a beautiful portrait of a vanishing piece of Americana.

The film examines a small-town race track, the blue-collar players that inhabit it and the close-knit community that revolves around it. Throughout the film it's impossible to stay apathetic to the sight of local heroes (race car drivers), the elderly track owners and the characters that frequent the race track who might lose their beloved track to real-estate development greed.

The film is loaded with life-or-death stakes (even thought the film couldn't be further away from NASCAR's world), intimate camerawork and impressive sound design. Director Michael Dweck uses long takes and little talk, and lets the environment and visuals do all the explaining.

Dweck found beauty in an unusual place and has shared it with all who care to look at it.

From start to finish . . . From the title to the closing credits . . . This was a negative depressing presentation. It dwelled on the "junk" classes that race at Riverhead . . . The dregs of racing . . . The despair of the Cromartys. Ugh.

It never mentioned or displayed the top class . . . The Modifieds . . . Which are very fast, very costly race cars driven by very accomplished wheelmen. The production made Riverhead look like a little hick track that is standing in the way of progress . . . I.e. Another damn Wal-Mart.

This is a well-produced piece of trash that does nothing but hurt the sport of racing.

I am not sorry that I watched but I damn well will not recommend it to anyone for fear of triggering a dismal look at motorsports . . . And life in general.

This documentary on Riverhead Raceway, on Long Island, N.Y., brought back memories to me of going to Freeport Raceway on Long Island (one of 40 active stock car tracks at the time) as a kid with my family for a night of racing and excitement.

Alas, Riverhead is the only remaining track of its kind in the area and seemingly barely hanging on, with its aging but dedicated owners Barbara and Jim Cromarty, and land developers on all sides of the track impatiently waiting for them to sell so they can develop another strip mall or parking lot on the valuable land.

This is not your typical doc, with its emphasis on the atmospherics of the stock car venue and the often quirky drivers and characters who keep it running. The film often seems disjointed, as it skips from one scene to another seemingly randomly. Thus, it will most likely turn off some viewers who expect a more traditional and orderly movie.

Overall, I found this doc to illustrate a slice of Americana that's still active but that more often than not will fade from our history.

Look for raw language throughout with the film being only about 1 hr. and 15 mins. in length.

This movie is the epitome, of what I feel, of car culture basics. This movie properly and well presented of the community's focus and services that the car culture provides. The movie shows how the community socializes and how the community contributes to each other's lives. What I feels is what needs to be absorbed and well grasped from this movie is the whole unity of the car cultures social foundation.

The car culture, was generally showcased as a culture of isofocused, for a lack of a better way to describe the context, but the car culture community, is not revolved around that reality. The reality of these people, from what I've obtained from the movie, is the whole association of the abilities to understand the car's capabilities, and mostly the car's historical significance and the importance of the car's performance. By having this "understanding" of the car's capabilities, will definitely provide you the insights of what it really means to have a "bet" on car racing. When you delve into the car culture, you'll definitely and quickly find the appreciation of what car racing is and does for the person. The Last race was a well created movie of what the car racing community does and focuses on.

I really couldn't get behind the way this movie was filmed. Maybe there was a time quota they had to fill but a little less than half of this doc could have been cut out. A lot of abstract angles of the track and silent close ups on drivers that's would be nice additions if they weren't 4 minutes long a piece. That being said, I was still able to finish it and enjoyed what little bits of actual interviews there were.