THE LAST RESORT - PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI (2000)
(This review from the Telegraph, of all places)
It used to be a goal of European film-making to encourage people to bear a little more reality. You went to the cinema to get closer to life. People today are likely to prefer the opposite service that Hollywood provides - escapism - but sometimes an inexpensive little film comes along that reminds you of the value of the European traditions. The cinema is about entertainment, but it isn't only about that: it is an expression of values. I reckon we are now lucky if one film a year comes from a truly original source: last year it was Laurent Cantet's Human Resources, the year before it was Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher. This year it is Last Resort, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski.
Last Resort is a film that is actually about something: the story of Tanya and Artiom and Alfie involves no great suspense and few surprises, yet this is the most involving film to come along this year. It has none of the anger and reproach of Ken Loach, and none of Mike Leigh's satire. Here is a new kind of film about modern Britain, one that shows the country in a different relationship to Europe, as a place of isolation and aloneness. I have now watched Last Resort three times.
Against the trend for smartly dressed gangster pictures and badly written Northern feelgood movies, this film points the way forward. It says something devastatingly simple: go and look at the lives that are lived here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Resort is a film that is actually about something: the story of Tanya and Artiom and Alfie involves no great suspense and few surprises, yet this is the most involving film to come along this year. It has none of the anger and reproach of Ken Loach, and none of Mike Leigh's satire. Here is a new kind of film about modern Britain, one that shows the country in a different relationship to Europe, as a place of isolation and aloneness. I have now watched Last Resort three times.
Against the trend for smartly dressed gangster pictures and badly written Northern feelgood movies, this film points the way forward. It says something devastatingly simple: go and look at the lives that are lived here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a very, very good film. If you get the chance to see it, make sure you do!
