Last Days (2005 film)

Last updated

Last Days
Lastdaysposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Written byGus Van Sant
Produced byGus Van Sant
Dany Wolf
Starring
Cinematography Harris Savides
Edited byGus Van Sant
Music by Rodrigo Lopresti
Michael Pitt
Production
company
Distributed by Picturehouse
Release date
  • July 22, 2005 (2005-07-22)
Running time
97 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.4 million [2]

Last Days is a 2005 American drama film directed, produced and written by Gus Van Sant. It is a fictionalized account of the last days of a musician, loosely based on Kurt Cobain. It was released to theaters in the United States on July 22, 2005 and was produced by HBO. The film stars Michael Pitt as the character Blake, based on Cobain. Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Patrick Green and Thadeus A. Thomas also star in the film. This is the first film from Picturehouse, a joint venture between Time Warner's New Line Cinema and HBO Films subsidiaries to release art house, independent, foreign, and documentary films. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Contents

Plot

A young musician named Blake sneaks out of a rehab clinic and walks home through a forest, also swimming through a lake then lighting a fire for the night. The next day, he gets home and changes his clothes. He walks around in the house with a shotgun pointing it at his sleeping roommates Scott, Luke, Asia, and Nicole. He is greeted by Yellow Pages representative Thadeus A. Thomas who talks to him about placing an ad in the upcoming book. He receives a phone call from his record company telling him that he and his band have to do another tour and that it is important they make the booked dates, but Blake hangs up. He goes upstairs and falls asleep on the floor in one of the rooms. Asia awakes and finds him asleep as two LDS missionaries arrive at the door. Scott and Luke answer the door and the two missionaries talk to them about their church and its teachings. Blake changes into different clothes and leaves the house for the shed outside as the missionaries leave.

Scott, Luke, Asia, and Nicole leave and Blake goes back into the house. His friend Donovan and a private detective come to the house and Blake leaves as they look around the house for him. He waits for them to leave before he enters the house again. He messes with the guitars and drums putting them on loop with his vocals. He stops when his record executive (Kim Gordon) comes over and tries to have him leave with her but Blake refuses. Blake goes to a rock club that night where a friend of his comes up to him and tells him about how he went to a Grateful Dead concert. Blake leaves before his friend can finish telling the story. Blake goes back home where Scott takes some of his money and Luke asks for help from Blake on a song.

Scott tells Luke that Donovan had a private detective with him and that they should leave. After Scott and Luke have sex upstairs, Blake plays acoustic one last time before walking out to the shed where he sits quietly, watching his roommates leave. They spend the night at their friend's house, and awake the next morning to see the news announcing that Blake died by suicide and an electrician found his body. Scott, Luke, and Nicole get in a car and leave, driving down a highway while Luke plays the guitar in the back seat.

Cast

Relation to other Van Sant films

Last Days is the third and final installment in what Van Sant has frequently called his "Death Trilogy", which began with Gerry (2002) and continued with Elephant (2003). The dialogue and narration in all three films are minimal, and scenes do not proceed linearly. [3] As in Elephant, scenes are revisited from new angles, starting at differing points in time, without a signal to viewers that the clock has been turned back and a previous scene is being revisited. In a later film, Paranoid Park (2007), Van Sant uses the same technique. Also as in the other films, many of the actors' character names are the same as their actual first names.

Production

Background

Van Sant has stated he had contemplated the project for nearly a decade.[ citation needed ] At one time, he wanted to do a biographical film about Cobain but decided against the idea out of concern over the potential of a lawsuit by Cobain's widow, Courtney Love. Van Sant was unsure how Cobain's fans and family would react to Last Days; he spoke to Love several times over the years about his project and recently expressed his concern that it might be painful for her to see the film. Actress Asia Argento stated, "It's been written that I play Courtney Love, and it's not true. I'm so upset. I don't know why people say that. I feel very sorry for her. She's been demonized and I feel sorry for anybody that's lost like that. But no, I play a character that's very dorky." [4]

Music

Last Days features two original compositions by Michael Pitt: an acoustic song entitled "Death to Birth" and an electric jam called "That Day". Lukas Haas composed another piece, "Untitled". Rodrigo Lopresti composed "Seen as None" and "Pointless Ride". The character Scott listens to "Venus in Furs" by The Velvet Underground. Blake, in one scene, watches the music video for "On Bended Knee" by Boyz II Men on television. "Venus in Furs" contains the lyric "...on bended knee". A soundscape piece called "Doors of Perception" ("Türen der Wahrnehmung") was composed by Hildegard Westerkamp.

Filming

The film was shot in the Hudson Valley region of New York, which, due in part to cinematographer Harris Savides' specialized treatment of the film stock, suggests the Pacific Northwest, where Van Sant is from.[ citation needed ]

Reception

Last Days received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 57% based on reviews from 120 critics. The site's consensus says, "While the minimalist style is not for all viewers, those who prefer experimentalism will find Last Days hypnotic." [5] On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on reviews from 36 critics. [6]

Leslie Felperin of Variety wrote: "Result is dead-on depiction of the hedonistic rock lifestyle, punctuated by sequences of haunting beauty but also quasi-religious imagery that borders on tacky." [7]

Awards

The film was entered in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Technical Grand Prize. [8] It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography, but failed to win any awards at the festival.

Legacy

The film was adapted into an opera of the same name by British composer Oliver Leith and visual artist Matt Copson, which premiered in 2022 at the Linbury Theatre as a coproduction of Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Opera House, featuring French actress Agathe Rousselle in the role of Blake. [9]

Director Matt Reeves has said that this movie was an influence on the character of Bruce Wayne in The Batman (2022). [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Cobain</span> American rock musician (1967–1994)

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American musician who was the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is highly recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.

<i>Gerry</i> (2002 film) 2002 American film

Gerry is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring and co-written by Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. It is the first installment of Van Sant's "Death Trilogy", three films based on deaths that occurred in real life and is succeeded by Elephant (2003) and Last Days (2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dario Argento</span> Italian film director and screenwriter

Dario Argento is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. His influential work in the horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, has led him to being referred to as the "Master of the Thrill" and the "Master of Horror".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus Van Sant</span> American film director, producer, photographer and musician

Gus Green Van Sant Jr. is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician who has earned acclaim as an independent filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures, in particular homosexuality. Van Sant is considered one of the most prominent auteurs of the New Queer Cinema movement.

<i>Elephant</i> (2003 film) 2003 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant

Elephant is a 2003 American psychological drama film written, directed, and edited by Gus Van Sant. It takes place in Watt High School, in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, and chronicles the events surrounding a school shooting, based in part on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. The film begins a short time before the shooting occurs, following the lives of several characters both in and out of school, who are unaware of what is about to unfold. The film stars mostly new actors, including John Robinson, Alex Frost, and Eric Deulen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asia Argento</span> Italian actress and filmmaker

Asia Argento is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with appearances in XXX (2002), Land of the Dead (2005) and Marie Antoinette (2006). Her other notable acting credits include Queen Margot (1994), Let's Not Keep in Touch (1994), Traveling Companion (1996), Last Days (2005) and Islands (2011). Argento is the recipient of several accolades, including two David di Donatello awards for Best Actress and three Italian Golden Globes. Her directorial credits include The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) and Misunderstood (2014).

<i>My Own Private Idaho</i> 1991 film directed by Gus Van Sant

My Own Private Idaho is a 1991 American independent adventure drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V. The story follows two friends, Mike Waters and Scott Favor, played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves respectively, as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them from Portland, Oregon, to Mike's hometown in Idaho, and then to Rome in search of Mike's mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lukas Haas</span> American actor

Lukas Daniel Haas is an American actor. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. His notable credits include in the films Witness (1985), Mars Attacks! (1996), Inception (2010), The Revenant (2015), First Man (2018), and as The Patient in the music video for My Chemical Romance's rock ballad "Welcome to the Black Parade".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Pitt</span> American actor, model, and musician

Michael Carmen Pitt is an American actor, model, and musician. Pitt is best known for his roles in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2003), Gus Van Sant's Last Days (2005), Michael Haneke's Funny Games (2007), and for portraying Jimmy Darmody in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2011).

<i>The "Priest" They Called Him</i> Extended play by William S. Burroughs

"The “Priest” They Called Him" is a collaboration between the American novelist William S. Burroughs and musician Kurt Cobain. On the piece, Cobain provides noisy, discordant guitar backing based on "Silent Night" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" to Burroughs' deadpan reading. Originally released as a limited edition 10-inch picture disc on Tim/Kerr Records in 1993, it was subsequently re-released on CD and 10-inch vinyl.

<i>Dracula 3D</i> 2012 Italian film

Dracula 3D is a 2012 vampire horror film co-written and directed by Dario Argento and starring Thomas Kretschmann, Rutger Hauer, Marta Gastini, and Unax Ugalde. An Italian-Spanish-French co-production, the film is Argento's first 3D film. Kretschmann took the role of Dracula; he later played Abraham van Helsing in the Budapest-shot television series Dracula.

<i>Mother of Tears</i> 2007 film by Dario Argento

Mother of Tears is a 2007 supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento, and starring Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Moran Atias, Udo Kier and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni. The film has also been billed in English-speaking media as Mater Lachrymarum, The Third Mother and Mother of Tears: The Third Mother.

<i>Johns</i> (film) 1997 American film

Johns is a 1996 American drama film written and directed by Scott Silver and starring David Arquette and Lukas Haas, who portray hustlers who work Santa Monica Boulevard.

<i>Dracula III: Legacy</i> 2005 vampire film by Patrick Lussier

Dracula III: Legacy is a 2005 vampire film and the sequel to Dracula 2000 and Dracula II: Ascension. The film was directed by Patrick Lussier and stars Jason Scott Lee, Jason London, Roy Scheider, and Diane Neal. It was released direct-to-video on July 12, 2005.

<i>Paranoid Park</i> (film) 2007 film by Gus Van Sant

Paranoid Park is a 2007 coming of age teen drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Blake Nelson and takes place in Portland, Oregon. It's the story of a teenage skateboarder set against the backdrop of a police investigation into a mysterious death.

<i>Gardener of Eden</i> 2007 American film

Gardener of Eden is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Kevin Connolly. It stars Lukas Haas, Erika Christensen and Giovanni Ribisi.

<i>The Last Mistress</i> 2007 French film

The Last Mistress is a 2007 French-Italian film based on the novel Une vieille maîtresse by the French writer Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly. It stars Asia Argento and Fu'ad Aït Aattou as the two main characters. The movie was directed by the French filmmaker Catherine Breillat and was selected for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>The Captive</i> (2014 film) 2014 Canadian thriller film by Atom Egoyan

The Captive is a 2014 Canadian thriller film directed by Atom Egoyan with a script he co-wrote with David Fraser. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Bruce Greenwood, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson, Mireille Enos, Kevin Durand, and Alexia Fast. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The film was released in select theaters and on demand on December 12, 2014.

<i>Seized</i> (film) 2020 American film

Seized is a 2020 American action thriller film directed by Isaac Florentine. The film stars Scott Adkins and Mario Van Peebles and follows the former special agent who must eliminate three crime syndicates of highly skilled criminals in exchange for his son who is kidnapped.

Last Days is a 2022 English-language opera in one act, with music by Oliver Leith and libretto by Matt Copson. It was directed by Copson and Anna Morrisey. The title and concept for the opera were taken from the 2005 film of the same name by Gus van Sant, which was a fictionalised account of the last days of Kurt Cobain.

References

  1. "LAST DAYS (15)". British Board of Film Classification . June 17, 2005. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  2. Last Days at Box Office Mojo
  3. "Van Sant's 'Death' Trilogy: Gerry, Elephant and Last Days - PHDessay.com". Free Essays - PhDessay.com. December 24, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  4. "Argento: 'I Don't Play Love'". Contact Music.
  5. "Last Days (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes .
  6. "Last Days". Metacritic .
  7. Leslie Felperin (May 13, 2005). "Last Days". Variety.
  8. "Festival de Cannes: Last Days". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  9. Marshall, Alex (October 7, 2022). "A Kurt Cobain Opera Examines the Myth, Not the Man". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  10. Field, James (April 19, 2022). The Art Of The Batman. New York: Abrams. p. 83. ISBN   978-1-4197-6210-9.