Last Days | |
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Directed by | Gus Van Sant |
Written by | Gus Van Sant |
Produced by | Gus Van Sant Dany Wolf |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Harris Savides |
Edited by | Gus Van Sant |
Music by | Rodrigo Lopresti Michael Pitt |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Picturehouse |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.4 million [2] |
Last Days is a 2005 American drama film written, directed, produced and edited 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 polarized critics.
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.
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.
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]
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.
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 ]
On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 58% based on reviews from 119 critics, with an average rating of 6.1/10. 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, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [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]
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.
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]
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establishment persona, his compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock music. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X, and is widely recognized as one of the most influential rock musicians.
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).
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. His influential work in the horror and giallo genres during the 1970s and 1980s has led him to being referred to as the "Master of the Thrill" and the "Master of Horror".
Gus Green Van Sant Jr. is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician who has earned acclaim as an independent filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures.
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.
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.
Michael Carmen Pitt is an American actor, model, and musician. In film, he has appeared in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Bully (2001), Murder by Numbers (2002), The Dreamers (2003), Last Days (2005), Silk (2007), Funny Games (2007), I Origins (2014), and Ghost in the Shell (2017). In television, he portrayed Henry Parker in the teen drama Dawson's Creek (1999–2000), Jimmy Darmody in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2011), and Mason Verger in the second season of the NBC series Hannibal (2014).
"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.
Dracula 3D is a 2012 vampire horror film directed by Dario Argento from a screenplay he wrote with Enrique Cerezo, Stefano Piani, and Stefano Piani. It stars Thomas Kretschmann as Count Dracula, alongside Marta Gastini, Asia Argento, Unax Ugalde, Miriam Giovanelli, and Rutger Hauer.
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.
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.
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.
Paranoid Park is a 2007 coming of age teen drama film written, directed and edited 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 is the story of a teenage skateboarder set against the backdrop of a police investigation into a mysterious death.
Gardener of Eden is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Kevin Connolly. It stars Lukas Haas, Erika Christensen and Giovanni Ribisi.
Tony DiMera is a fictional character from the Peacock American soap opera Days of Our Lives, played by actor Thaao Penghlis on and off from November 6, 1981, until October 24, 1985, and from July 19, 2007, until April 1, 2009. One of the character's main storylines includes being impersonated by fellow character André DiMera at various points in the character's tenure. Both roles were played by Penghlis. He reprised the role in a guest capacity in March 2019, before returning in a recurring capacity later that July, and exiting again in May 2023. On October 3, 2024, it was announced Penghlis would reprise the role, when Tony returns in June 2025.
Boarding Gate is a 2007 French thriller film about the sophisticated power plays between a debt-ridden underworld entrepreneur, his provocative and ambitious ex-associate and a manipulative young couple who employ her. Written and directed by Olivier Assayas, the film features an international cast comprising Asia Argento, Michael Madsen, Carl Ng and Kelly Lin. Kim Gordon also plays a supporting role as an enigmatic businesswoman forced to intervene as events unfold in Hong Kong.
Rodrigo Lopresti is an American-Argentine actor, musician and film director who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He released songs as The Hermitt, with his first commercial album released in 2003.
Contraband is a 2012 action thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormákur, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Caleb Landry Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Diego Luna and J. K. Simmons. The film is a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam distributed by Universal Pictures.
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.