Post by Vercetti on Nov 27, 2005 16:42:29 GMT
Last Days
Director: Gus Van Sant
2005 USA
The film patiently follows Blake, a burnt-out rock musician through his final days as he slowly makes his way around woods, his home, and his final destination. Inspired by the mysterious last days of Kurt Cobain. The final installment in the "Death Trilogy."
"It's a long, lonely journey from death to birth."
The film opens with a chorus singing while we stare into the woods. A figure comes from the right side, vomits on the ground and continues to a small river where he swims. He starts a fire in the night and sings part of “Home on the Range.” He’s wearing a dirty white T-shirt and red pants. He continues through the thick woods, a train blasts past him in the background. All in one cut he goes from a spot near his home up through his driveway into a Greenhouse. He stumbles and has to touch the rock walls near him as if he can’t manage much longer. He’s wearing a medical bracelet, implying he’s just been in rehab. This character is Blake, a burnt-out rock musician. This film is inspired by the final days of Kurt Cobain, who mysteriously turned up dead in his Greenhouse. However, this is not a biopic, but as others put it well, an anti-biopic.
Blake stumbles around his house, constantly mumbling to himself, at one point saying “I can’t do anything anymore” and even telling himself he can’t talk right anymore. He’s not alone though. There are several people: Lukas, Scott, Asia, and Nicole. They aren’t really friends, but they just hang around Blake, never really caring about him, and the only time they talk to him is when they need help making a song more personal, or when someone needs to take his credit card to buy a jet heater and plane tickets. There is an off-camera character named Blackie (probably the Courtney Love character) who yells at Scott over the phone at one point, and even sends up a private investigator to check things out. Blake mostly roams around not doing much. Making cereal, walking around with his rifle, or avoiding contact with others to write or be by himself. He clearly isn’t all that well either, at times randomly falling on his bed, or even crawling on the ground.
A yellow pages salesman drops in, and when he asks how his day is Blake replies “Um, pretty good, um you know, another day.” Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon appears as a record executive who wants Blake to leave the house. Casting her was a nice touch, and she supposedly helped Pitt get into the role. Later on he tries several instruments which overlap into one song as the camera pulls back from the window watching from outside. The music seems to be the shockwaves of his career, and is the first time we hear his music. We still don’t really get inside his head. We feel like we’re just watching genuine life. It’s not until the peak of the film, when Blake returns to that room and picks up his acoustic guitar and performs “Death to Birth.” This is when we really get a feel for the character’s inner turmoil. He mumbles through some of the lyrics, which are hard to make out at times, but just by listening to him you can feel his cry of depression.
From rape to right in, too real to live
should I lie down or stand up
And walk around again?
My eyes finally wide open up
My eyes finally wide open shut
I finally found the sound
That heals the touch of my tears
Smells the taste of all we waste
Could feed the others
But we smother each other
With the nectar and pucker the sour
Of bittersweet weather
It blows through our trees
Swims through our seas
Flies through the last gasp we left on this earth
It's a long lonely journey from death to birth (repeated)
Should I die again?
Should I die around the pounds of matter wailing through space?
I know I'll never know until I come face to face
With my own cold, dead face
with my own wooden case
You are with me, with me, lonely, lonely, lonely I'm mourning you
Ready for the long lonely journey from death to birth
It's a long lonely journey from death to birth
Michael Pitt, who plays Blake wrote “Death to Birth” for the film. When I first heard of him playing this character I couldn’t take it seriously, however I was very wrong. Pitt gives a great performance, depending on his body language more then the dialogue, which is limited. The lyrics he wrote are also excellent and perfectly echo the frustration fame has brought Blake. Gus Van Sant surpasses “Elephant,” which was the best of 2003 with this film. We get closer to the protagonist and it ends up more fascinating. The biggest thing people are talking about is what happens to Blake. Although Van Sant does have some implications, he generally ignores it and simply focuses on the mental decline of the protagonist or the possibility that is the real death itself, rather then the simple physical death.
This is the final film in Van Sant’s Death Trilogy: Gerry, Elephant, Last Days. The music is of course great from the chorus tracks to “Death to Birth.” There’s also a wonderful scene where the groupies play Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs.” The cinematography is beautiful, most notably the scenes in the wilderness. This is honestly the best of the year so far, and one of the best films I’ve seen in recent years. It’s an excellent character study of mental decline placed in Kurt Cobain’s mysterious last days as a setting. This is loosely based on Cobain, but as I said it works as an anti-biopic. Instead of overrated movies like "Ray" we become fascinated with the character for more then just the performance.
CREDITS
Director[/b]
Gus Van Sant
Producer
Dany Wolf
Writer
Gus Van Sant
Cinematographer
Harris Savides
Original Music By
Rodrigo Lopresti
Editor
Gus Van Sant
CAST
Michael Pitt
Blake
Lukas Haas
Lukas
Asia Argento
Asia
Scott Green
Scott
Nicole Vicius
Nicole
Ricky Jay
Detective
Ryan Orion
Donovan
Kim Gordon
Record Executive[/size]
Director: Gus Van Sant
2005 USA
The film patiently follows Blake, a burnt-out rock musician through his final days as he slowly makes his way around woods, his home, and his final destination. Inspired by the mysterious last days of Kurt Cobain. The final installment in the "Death Trilogy."
"It's a long, lonely journey from death to birth."
The film opens with a chorus singing while we stare into the woods. A figure comes from the right side, vomits on the ground and continues to a small river where he swims. He starts a fire in the night and sings part of “Home on the Range.” He’s wearing a dirty white T-shirt and red pants. He continues through the thick woods, a train blasts past him in the background. All in one cut he goes from a spot near his home up through his driveway into a Greenhouse. He stumbles and has to touch the rock walls near him as if he can’t manage much longer. He’s wearing a medical bracelet, implying he’s just been in rehab. This character is Blake, a burnt-out rock musician. This film is inspired by the final days of Kurt Cobain, who mysteriously turned up dead in his Greenhouse. However, this is not a biopic, but as others put it well, an anti-biopic.
Blake stumbles around his house, constantly mumbling to himself, at one point saying “I can’t do anything anymore” and even telling himself he can’t talk right anymore. He’s not alone though. There are several people: Lukas, Scott, Asia, and Nicole. They aren’t really friends, but they just hang around Blake, never really caring about him, and the only time they talk to him is when they need help making a song more personal, or when someone needs to take his credit card to buy a jet heater and plane tickets. There is an off-camera character named Blackie (probably the Courtney Love character) who yells at Scott over the phone at one point, and even sends up a private investigator to check things out. Blake mostly roams around not doing much. Making cereal, walking around with his rifle, or avoiding contact with others to write or be by himself. He clearly isn’t all that well either, at times randomly falling on his bed, or even crawling on the ground.
A yellow pages salesman drops in, and when he asks how his day is Blake replies “Um, pretty good, um you know, another day.” Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon appears as a record executive who wants Blake to leave the house. Casting her was a nice touch, and she supposedly helped Pitt get into the role. Later on he tries several instruments which overlap into one song as the camera pulls back from the window watching from outside. The music seems to be the shockwaves of his career, and is the first time we hear his music. We still don’t really get inside his head. We feel like we’re just watching genuine life. It’s not until the peak of the film, when Blake returns to that room and picks up his acoustic guitar and performs “Death to Birth.” This is when we really get a feel for the character’s inner turmoil. He mumbles through some of the lyrics, which are hard to make out at times, but just by listening to him you can feel his cry of depression.
From rape to right in, too real to live
should I lie down or stand up
And walk around again?
My eyes finally wide open up
My eyes finally wide open shut
I finally found the sound
That heals the touch of my tears
Smells the taste of all we waste
Could feed the others
But we smother each other
With the nectar and pucker the sour
Of bittersweet weather
It blows through our trees
Swims through our seas
Flies through the last gasp we left on this earth
It's a long lonely journey from death to birth (repeated)
Should I die again?
Should I die around the pounds of matter wailing through space?
I know I'll never know until I come face to face
With my own cold, dead face
with my own wooden case
You are with me, with me, lonely, lonely, lonely I'm mourning you
Ready for the long lonely journey from death to birth
It's a long lonely journey from death to birth
Michael Pitt, who plays Blake wrote “Death to Birth” for the film. When I first heard of him playing this character I couldn’t take it seriously, however I was very wrong. Pitt gives a great performance, depending on his body language more then the dialogue, which is limited. The lyrics he wrote are also excellent and perfectly echo the frustration fame has brought Blake. Gus Van Sant surpasses “Elephant,” which was the best of 2003 with this film. We get closer to the protagonist and it ends up more fascinating. The biggest thing people are talking about is what happens to Blake. Although Van Sant does have some implications, he generally ignores it and simply focuses on the mental decline of the protagonist or the possibility that is the real death itself, rather then the simple physical death.
This is the final film in Van Sant’s Death Trilogy: Gerry, Elephant, Last Days. The music is of course great from the chorus tracks to “Death to Birth.” There’s also a wonderful scene where the groupies play Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs.” The cinematography is beautiful, most notably the scenes in the wilderness. This is honestly the best of the year so far, and one of the best films I’ve seen in recent years. It’s an excellent character study of mental decline placed in Kurt Cobain’s mysterious last days as a setting. This is loosely based on Cobain, but as I said it works as an anti-biopic. Instead of overrated movies like "Ray" we become fascinated with the character for more then just the performance.
CREDITS
Director[/b]
Gus Van Sant
Producer
Dany Wolf
Writer
Gus Van Sant
Cinematographer
Harris Savides
Original Music By
Rodrigo Lopresti
Editor
Gus Van Sant
CAST
Michael Pitt
Blake
Lukas Haas
Lukas
Asia Argento
Asia
Scott Green
Scott
Nicole Vicius
Nicole
Ricky Jay
Detective
Ryan Orion
Donovan
Kim Gordon
Record Executive[/size]
