The Last Day (2004)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C+
Rodolphe Marconi is starting to make some kind of name for
himself, with The Last Day (2004) gaining some fans. It is about a love triangle between Simon,
Louise and Marc. He is close to Marc as
a friend, but gets sexually involved with Louise. He follows a dysfunctional route not getting along with his
family, including an obligatory heterosexual relationship. Of course, he may also be interested in Marc
more than he admits, but will he be able to do anything about that?
Unfortunately, the film’s very short 80 minutes does not
allow much to be resolved in time and all the interesting possibilities that
could and should have been explored do not even begin to get taken into consideration. The cast, including lead Gaspard Ulliel,
arte actually pretty good.
Unfortunately, they do not get enough to do and the result is a long
string of missed opportunities that makes the viewer wonder as they watch if
anything will actually come of the film.
The ending is ultimately the one thing that almost makes sense. Too bad, because the cast has chemistry and
this has some nice locations to boot.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image is bookended at
the sides in a 16 X 9 frame. It is softer
and grainier than expected, especially for a recent production, and a possible
PAL to NTSC conversion issue. Helene
Louvart’s cinematography is a plus. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has faint surrounds and lacks bass, though it was a
Dolby Digital theatrical release.
Extras include previews for four other Strand titles, but nothing else.
- Nicholas Sheffo
