Last Days (2005)

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writer (WGA):

Gus Van Sant (written by)

Release Date:

13 May 2005 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Rock and roll will never die.

Plot:

A Seattle-set rock & roll drama about a musician whose life and career is reminiscent of Kurt Cobain's.

Plot Keywords:

Song | Woods | House | Kurt Cobain | Musician

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Michael Pitt	...	Blake
Lukas Haas	...	Luke
Asia Argento	...	Asia
Scott Patrick Green	...	Scott (as Scott Green)
Nicole Vicius	...	Nicole
Ricky Jay	...	Detective
Ryan Orion	...	Donovan
Harmony Korine	...	Guy in Club
Rodrigo Lopresti	...	Band in Club (as The Hermitt)
Kim Gordon	...	Record Executive
Adam Friberg	...	Elder Friberg #1
Andy Friberg	...	Elder Friberg #2
Thadeus A. Thomas	...	Yellow Book Salesman
Chip Marks	...	Tree Trimmer
Kurt Loder	...	TV Voiceover (voice)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

97 min | Argentina:97 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Nova Scotia) | Argentina:16 | Germany:12 | Finland:K-7 | South Korea:15 | Singapore:M18 | Brazil:12 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Canada:G (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Garrison, New York, USA

Company:

HBO Films

Trivia:

The twins who play the Mormons answered a casting call for the movie in Aberdeen, Washington. They were the only people selected.

Goofs:

Factual errors: One of the LDS missionaries that visits the house is wearing a light blue shirt. LDS missionaries are only permitted to wear non-decorative white shirts with dark pants/suits, and a conservative tie. The missionaries also carried no pamphlets, visual aids, appointment books, or their own complete sets of scriptures, which is highly unlikely for door-to-door proselytizing.

Quotes:

Blake: I lost something on the way to wherever I am today.

Movie Connections:

References "Walker, Texas Ranger" (1993)

Soundtrack:

A Pointless Ride

last days -- the slow demise of an individual

Gus Van Sant does a remarkable job with this film - "Last Days." Nothing much happens, there is not a lot of dialogue but what we see, experience, is the slow demise of an individual into oblivion. We are observers, albeit at a distance. The urge maybe there to intervene; deliberately evoked by the structure of Van Sant's film. We want to say: 'You do not have to go on like this. We can help.' The structure is like a memory recalled. We keep going over it, adding bits as we do to try to make more sense, but never arriving at a definitive version. We especially hope that when the advertising salesman calls to the house and Blake lets him in,that he will engage with the man and forget his morose preoccupations. But the gulf between the two is unbridgeable. The nadir of the film is when Blake, left alone by his friends in the rehearsal room, starts to play on his guitar. His voice echoes his inner anguish, rising from a low to a high and then back to a low. He even manages to break a string on the guitar, but dexterously pulls the string while continuing the song. How could such music come out of such gloom? This is the paradox of creativity -- of trying to give form to ideas, not yet realized. We wait in anticipation, incapable of giving directions. Blake is constantly trying to evade the intrusion of others but cannot transcend his own self, of being in the world. The final intrusion finds him not there; he is dead.