Last Night


sorabji.com: Last movie you saw: Last Night
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By Gee on Saturday, June 19, 1999 - 04:59 pm:

    "Last Night" is a Don McKeller (aka "GOD") film. It's Canadian, so a lot of you probably haven't ever heard of it. It's about the end of the world, basically, and what a few select people are doing for their Last Night on earth.

    It's amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I actually only wanted to watch it in the first place because I think Callum Keith Rennie is beautiful and I heard he kissed Don McKeller (who's also pretty darn cute) in the flick, and being kinda weird, that appealed to me on many many levels. But DARN...the movie totally stands on it's own. I had no idea, but man...Don McKeller is a wonderful film maker. He starred in the flick, and wrote and directed it. The whole movie was jammed with wonderful actors, actually.

    I feel okay about detailing the plot because I'm still hyped up on the film and I know I'm not ruining anything for you all cuz most of you won't ever see it.

    First of all, there's Patrick (Don McKeller). He's decided that for his last night on earth he just wants to be alone. Seems that his wife died not that long ago and he hasn't really been able ot "find" anyone else since then. His mother is in a total state of denial, and just pretends the last night is christmas.

    There's Sandra (Sandra Oh - FANTASTIC canadian actress. anyone seen "Double Happiness"?? She deserves to be huge, huge.) who met her husband all of two months ago and was married right away. She spends a good deal of time insisting that she loves her husband. She's trying to get home before midnight (when the world will end) so she and her husband can commit a double suicide. Shoot each other. Right at the last second. Her car is turned over at the begining of the movie, and somehow or other she ends up stumbling across Patrick and he tries to help her. The whole "last night" thing just seems to be unreal to Him.

    Craig (Callum Keith Rennie) has decided that before the world ends he wants to try all different kinds of sex acts. Not every perversion, just things he's Wanted to do. On the last night he sleeps with a black chick, his old french teacher, and Tries to proposition Patrick. Plus there's the virgin at the end. Where does he get all that stamina? At the stroke of midnight, he wants to go while having a mutual orgasm with some chick.

    I love CKR, but the best bits of the movie were absolutly between Patrick and Sandra. Once she realizes that there's no way she'll be able to get home by midnight, she asks Patrick to shoot her. There's this scene with her encouraging him to tell her something that will make her love him. "I want to love you." she says to him. Not in some mushy sappy love tone, either, but in a totally straight tone of voice, with a tear falling from her eye kind of casually. The whole scene...all of it all together is just sad. There's also a cute scene when Patrick and Sandra first meet when them talking about the socialist implications in Pete Seeger's version of "Guantanamera". She didn't know he (Pete) was a socialist.

    The ending was...perfect. Sandra and Patrick are sitting on a roof with "Guantanamera" playing and she's telling him not to shoot until the last second. "How will I know?" he asks. "You'll know." she says. Right before the white flash of light hits them, they totally look like they're about to pull the triggers on each other, they drop their guns slightly and kiss kind of a strangled "let me feel some tenderness Quickly" kind of kiss. It's beautiful. I was compleatly depressed after I saw it.



    If you still want to see it, don't worry. Knowing what happens won't ruin it too much for you. I knew all about the kiss at the end and many more details before I ever saw it, and it still had a huge impact on me. Don McKeller is god.

    Sarah Polly and David Cronenberg were in the film too.


By Rhiannon on Sunday, June 20, 1999 - 04:31 pm:

    Wasn't Don McKellar in "Exotica"? That's another beautiful and depressing film.


By R.C. on Sunday, June 20, 1999 - 04:57 pm:

    Oooohh -- I loved that movie. It was the 1st Atom Egoyan flick I got hip to.

    Not to be a dork Gee/but I don't get why a movie like that wd include characters who wanted to kill themselves when the world was abt to end. That's like washing yr car in a thunderstorm is blowing in. Was that supposed to be a comedic touch/or what?

    And we can check it out when it hits the video stores. Altho' I imagine it'll be somewhat hard to find.


By Gee on Monday, June 21, 1999 - 05:39 pm:

    I think it was supposed to be a romantic gesture. I got the impression that Sandra wasn't really IN LOVE with her husband, that it was more like she wanted to have someone to be with when the end hit, and to her (and her hubby) this was a good way for them to "prove" that they loved each other. It may also have been that they were afraid of the actual End, and this would be easier to take. At one point in the movie (near the end) Patrick was talking about how honored he felt to be on Earth when the end happened (something about how none of us were here for the begining, but we were going to be here for the end) and how it would probably be pretty beautifu and was she Sure she didn't want to see it for herself? and Sandra said "It would mean more coming from you."

    I don't think the suicide thing is that hard to understand. I wouldn't do it myself because I would be pretty curious about how the world ended, but I can see why some people would be so terrified that they'd rather just Off themselves first before the universe got the chance to.

    I couldn't figure out the Patrick character, though. I don't know if he really wanted to kill himself cuz he was scared or lonely or whatever, or if he was just Helping Sandra. And yes, Don McKeller did "Exotica", but shhhh...I haven't seen that one yet.



    ps...it's in the video stores now. You'd probably have to ask for it, though.


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