Last Days

bonanzataz · February 22, 2006, 05:43:19 PM

after watching gerry and re-watching elephant, i can safely say that this was a big step back for van sant. he just reuses themes from those aforementioned films and throws in a few stale jokes. i stick by my earlier statements saying the movie was good (in a sense), but comparatively, it seemed like a big waste of time and money for van sant. maybe he just needed to get it out of his system and he wanted to do that trilogy type deal, but that's stupid. say what you have to say and move on.

gopher69 · March 12, 2006, 02:59:48 PM

It's really too bad that Gus Van Sant's work is misunderstood for being self indulgent. Van Sant, like very few directors, has a real knack of capturing real life as it happens. The long dolly shots in both Last Days and Elephant, while they may test ones patience, are really quite hypnotic. It is not necessarily what is happening right in front of you that captures your attention but the things that are occuring naturally in the background that bring depth and substance to the story. This is everyday life as it unfolds in real time; there is nothing contrived or phony about it.

The scene with Blake sitting in front of the bonfire (when he sings Home on the Range) is absolutely mesmerizing; nothing really happens but the crackling sound of the fire and the flames themselves draw you into the scene and make you appreciate the simplest sights and sounds for what they are. Van Sant doesn't include unnecessary dialogue to tell his story but rather uses the surroundings of the mundane everyday to incorporate his characters thoughts and emotions.

Like a fine piece of art, with each viewing something new is gained or a new appreciation found in the simplest of frames that unfold before you on screen. Perhaps the reason so many people dislike this film is because they are lead to believe it is a biopic about Kurt Cobain but it is far from that and has a much deeper meaning than the story of the guy from Nirvana who committed suicide. It is really about one mans final and desperate attempt to find peace in a world that is too far gone from his control.

In the Hollywood of today, too much attention is spent on star power and box office take than real artistic value. Sure, these sorts of experiments are not for everyone and there is plenty of drivel for the masses to enjoy but Van Sant should be applaued

for standing true to his art and not giving into Hollywood conventions or cliches. Film is so much more than that.

last days of gerry the elephant · March 14, 2006, 10:06:36 PM

Quote from: gopher69 on March 12, 2006, 02:59:48 PM
It's really too bad that Gus Van Sant's work is misunderstood for being self indulgent. Van Sant, like very few directors, has a real knack of capturing real life as it happens. The long dolly shots in both Last Days and Elephant, while they may test ones patience, are really quite hypnotic. It is not necessarily what is happening right in front of you that captures your attention but the things that are occuring naturally in the background that bring depth and substance to the story. This is everyday life as it unfolds in real time; there is nothing contrived or phony about it.

The scene with Blake sitting in front of the bonfire (when he sings Home on the Range) is absolutely mesmerizing; nothing really happens but the crackling sound of the fire and the flames themselves draw you into the scene and make you appreciate the simplest sights and sounds for what they are. Van Sant doesn't include unnecessary dialogue to tell his story but rather uses the surroundings of the mundane everyday to incorporate his characters thoughts and emotions.

Like a fine piece of art, with each viewing something new is gained or a new appreciation found in the simplest of frames that unfold before you on screen. Perhaps the reason so many people dislike this film is because they are lead to believe it is a biopic about Kurt Cobain but it is far from that and has a much deeper meaning than the story of the guy from Nirvana who committed suicide. It is really about one mans final and desperate attempt to find peace in a world that is too far gone from his control.

In the Hollywood of today, too much attention is spent on star power and box office take than real artistic value. Sure, these sorts of experiments are not for everyone and there is plenty of drivel for the masses to enjoy but Van Sant should be applaued for standing true to his art and not giving into Hollywood conventions or cliches. Film is so much more than that.

I just watched this, I really am not sure why I didn't get to it a little earlier than I did however, I agree with everything you're saying here. A lot of people warned me about it, saying it's Van Sant's worst and what not. However, I'm glad that I did watch it, it was a rewarding experience indeed.

NEON MERCURY · March 23, 2006, 09:50:36 PM

Quote from: Lucid on March 23, 2006, 09:16:25 PM
Having loved both 'Gerry' and 'Elephant,' I tried desperately to watch 'Last Days' a couple weeks ago. I started it once, and got five minutes in; the second time around, I got to the part with the Yellow Page ad salesman. It sat sadly on my desk for a week before I sent it back to Netflix. I really don't think it had anything to do with the movie, really - I guess I wasn't "in the mood"? Anyway, it's back on my queue for yet another try...

dont bother it does suck

Jeremy Blackman · March 24, 2006, 02:57:37 AM

If you weren't hooked by the salesman scene, it probably won't do much for you.

grand theft sparrow · April 28, 2006, 12:17:45 PM

Quote from: bonanzataz on February 22, 2006, 05:43:19 PM
after watching gerry and re-watching elephant, i can safely say that this was a big step back for van sant. he just reuses themes from those aforementioned films and throws in a few stale jokes. i stick by my earlier statements saying the movie was good (in a sense), but comparatively, it seemed like a big waste of time and money for van sant. maybe he just needed to get it out of his system and he wanted to do that trilogy type deal, but that's stupid. say what you have to say and move on.

I mostly agree with this. I don't think it was a step back from Gerry and Elephant but definitely not a step forward; it's my least favorite of the three. It's a fine film but the "gags" in it (the phone book guy and the Mormons, etc.) just didn't work. It was compelling and in the company of Gerry and Elephant becomes even more so, but it did feel somewhat repetitive in light of the other two films.

Heinsbergen · September 27, 2007, 05:37:19 AM

Quote from: gopher69 on March 12, 2006, 02:59:48 PM
The long dolly shots in both Last Days and Elephant, while they may test ones patience, are really quite hypnotic.

word! i watched them both late at night and i wasn't bored for one second, other than that i was almost hypnotized by those amazing shots and i think i preferred "last days". the part where they play "venus in furs" is fucking ace. i really need to see "gerry".

ElPandaRoyal · September 27, 2007, 06:01:10 AM

Quote from: Heinsbergen on September 27, 2007, 05:37:19 AMword! i watched them both late at night and i wasn't bored for one second, other than that i was almost hypnotized by those amazing shots and i think i preferred "last days". the part where they play "venus in furs" is fucking ace. i really need to see "gerry".

Despite some amazing shots (courtesy of le desert), I don't think Gerry is as good as the other two. But, yeah, you should watch it, but not that late at night...

Pubrick · September 27, 2007, 07:15:33 AM

Quote from: ElPandaRoyal on September 27, 2007, 06:01:10 AM
Quote from: Heinsbergen on September 27, 2007, 05:37:19 AMword! i watched them both late at night and i wasn't bored for one second, other than that i was almost hypnotized by those amazing shots and i think i preferred "last days". the part where they play "venus in furs" is fucking ace. i really need to see "gerry".

Despite some amazing shots (courtesy of le desert), I don't think Gerry is as good as the other two. But, yeah, you should watch it, but not that late at night...

come on, Gerry is hilarious! the parts where they talk anyway. although i did try watching it again last year and fell asleep. *shrug*

elephant is more emotionally engaging (to some), despite its sort of distant approach, but Last Days fails in both these criteria. it's not spectacular except in trying your patience.

modage · September 27, 2007, 10:45:29 AM

Quote from: Pubrick on September 27, 2007, 07:15:33 AM
come on, Gerry is hilarious! the parts where they talk anyway. although i did try watching it again last year and fell asleep. *shrug*

sweet sweet validation. i hope paranoid park doesnt suck.

soixante · September 28, 2007, 02:51:34 PM

I watched Last Days again recently, and I didn't like it as much as I did the first time. I still like it, but the film left me a little cold. It did have some excellent moments -- such as how it staged Blake's death. It also didn't force the tensions between characters into melodrama, it just presented things in a casual way. Blake never confronts his freeloading friends, but the dramatic point is made by what Blake chooses not to do. Basically, he avoids confrontation at all costs, but conflict and drama somehow find him.

On the other hand, Elephant is getting better and better, and might well be my favorite film of the decade. I've noticed a lot of recent dramatic films are just too serious and earnest, but Elephant has the restraint to present tragedy in a detached way, which actually makes the tragedy more intense. There is also a "daymare" quality to the film, in which acts of barbarism are carried out in sterile, everyday conditions, and not heightened by melodramatic symphonic music or dramatic lighting. Rather than dramatic build-up and heightening, Van Sant presents mayhem in a matter of fact way. I remember one time I was driving in LA, and in the intersection up ahead of me one car broadsided another, and the broadsided car went sailing into a light pole. It all happened in a second. One minute, you're just driving, the next second, you're witnessing tragedy -- that's the sort of feeling I get from Elephant. Things happen so quickly and casually that you can't really believe your eyes, you can't digest what is happening, but you also know in a split-second that entire destinies, decades worth of potential life, are extinguished.

There is also the fact that war, terrorism and murder are daily occurrences, like the rising and setting of the sun. Van Sant shows this profound truth, but he also shows us a few glimmers of hope -- he focuses on the beauty of nature, and he shows the alcoholic father realizing how valuable (and fragile) his son is.

ElPandaRoyal · September 28, 2007, 04:32:03 PM

Quote from: soixante on September 28, 2007, 02:51:34 PM"daymare"

Nice touch. And I'm not being ironic, it's actually an excellent way to put it, since despite the tragic ending, the movie doesn't even try and pretend to be dark or anything. That's, to me, the greatest thing about this (as opposed to "Good Will Hunting" for instance) Gus van Sant. It all seems so natural, yet so cinematic.

soixante · September 29, 2007, 01:33:03 AM

Sometimes the scariest nightmares I experience have rather banal and unsinister mise-en-scenes. No dramatic lighting, no Gothic atmosphere.

One of the most nightmarish aspects of 9/11 was that it occurred on a beautiful, sunny morning. It was disturbing to see a gigantic fireball blooming over a modern American metropolis.

This was probably what it was like to experience the Columbine incident -- nobody expects a school to become a war zone (at least, not back in 1999 -- sadly, today we are painfully aware that havoc can be wrought anytime, anywhere).