Themes: Race Against Time, Finding a Way Back Home, End of the World
Main Cast: Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie, Sarah Polley, David Cronenberg
Release Year: 1998
Country: CA
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Don McKellar wrote and directed this comedy-drama about the last night of the world, part of the 12-film Arte series of movies about the Millennium. Set in Toronto, Patrick (McKellar) endures a faux Christmas celebration with his family while Sandra (Sandra Oh) tries to get across town to commit suicide with her husband, a gas company employee Duncan (David Cronenberg). Meanwhile, Craig (Callum Keith Rennie) hopes to achieve sexual satisfaction with several women on his list. Still mourning his dead wife, Patrick plans his last moments alone, until he and Sandra crosspaths. Shown in the Directors Fortnight section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Without the testosterone-laden flag-waving and over-budgeted explosions of such Hollywood fare as Armageddon (1998), Last Night details the last six hours of the earth's existence with humor, irony, and pathos. With the unspecified apocalypse long since announced, the film's characters have gone beyond initial blinding panic and settled into an uneasy resignation about their imminent demise, which occurs at the stroke of midnight. Instead of looting and pillaging, most citizens celebrate their final day as if it were New Year's Eve. Director Don McKellar weaves together the stories of a handful of characters with both a sardonic eye for the absurd and a creepy gloom that recalls such 1950s sci-fi flicks as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). The film's starkly existential situation achieves moments of great poignancy, particularly during the film's (and the earth's) final minutes. Sandra Oh and McKellar himself both give sterling performances. Funny, sad, and utterly absorbing, Last Night is the ultimate millennial angst film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Set in Toronto at an unknown date, Last Night tells the story of how a variety of intersecting characters spend their final evening on Earth. It seems the world is to end at midnight (Eastern Standard Time) as the result of a calamity that is not explained, but which has been expected for several months. There are several scenes of an ominously glowing sun, which gets progressively larger and brighter even into the night.
Some people in the film choose to spend their last evening alone, others with loved ones, others in prayer, others in public mayhem, and still others at raucous festivities. The owner of a power company Duncan (David Cronenberg) spends the majority of his final day calling up every single one of his customers to reassure them that their heating gas will be kept on until the very end. Meanwhile, his wife Sandra (Sandra Oh) prepares to fulfill their suicide pact when she becomes stranded with a depressed widower Patrick (Don McKellar) preparing to die while listening to music and drinking wine on his roof, surrounded by mementoes of his recently deceased wife. The widower's best friend Craig (Callum Keith Rennie) participates in a nearly non-stop sex marathon as he attempts to fulfill every fantasy he has ever had, at one point awkwardly asking Patrick to join him. Sarah Polley appears as Patrick's sister Jennifer; their family chooses to have a final meal together although he leaves prematurely to seek his own finale. Jackie Burroughs makes an appearance as an apparently mentally disturbed woman who jogs around announcing how much time is left before the end. Arsinée Khanjian also appears as a mother on an abandoned streetcar (tram) who is paralyzed by despair.
In the climax of the film, Patrick and Sandra decide to fulfill the suicide pact that her husband was unable to complete. As midnight approaches, they both sit on the roof facing each other, listening to the song "Guantanamera", each holding a loaded pistol to the other's temple. As the final minutes approach, Sandra implores Patrick to resolutely carry out the pact. But as the final seconds approach, both characters are overcome with emotion and simultaneously let their pistols slip away as they slowly embrace in a kiss and the last moments of all the major characters are seen. It is at this moment that the world, and all its variegated characters, is terminated.
Awards
Among its 12 awards, it won the "Award of the Youth" at the Cannes Film Festival, "Best Canadian First Feature Film" at the Toronto International Film Festival, and three Genie Awards: the Claude Jutra Award for best feature film by a first-time director (Don McKellar), and the Genies for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role" (Sandra Oh) and "Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role" (Callum Keith Rennie). In 2002, readers of Playback magazine voted Last Night the ninth greatest Canadian film of all-time.[2]
