Last Days (2005 film)

Last Days

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Produced by Gus Van Sant
Dany Wolf
Written by Gus Van Sant
Starring Michael Pitt
Lukas Haas
Asia Argento
Scott Patrick Green
Music by Rodrigo Lopresti
Michael Pitt
Cinematography Harris Savides
Edited by Gus Van Sant
Production
company
Distributed by Picturehouse Films
Release dates
  • July 22, 2005 (2005-07-22)
Running time
 96 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Box office $2.4 million[2]

Last Days is a 2005 American drama film directed, produced, and written by Gus Van Sant, and 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 Kurt Cobain; Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, and Scott Patrick Green 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-to-positive reviews from critics. Though meant to be based on Kurt Cobain, it contradicts the factual evidence of Cobain's final days.

Plot

Grunge rocker Blake escapes rehab and walks home through a long 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 boys arrive at the door. Scott and Luke answer the door and the two boys talk to them about their church down the street. Blake changes into different clothes and leaves the house for the shed outside as the Christian boys 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 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 with each other 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 committed 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

Harmony Korine as Guy In Club

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. 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.

Production

Background

Van Sant has stated he had contemplated the project for nearly a decade. 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, who plays a character reminiscent of Jessica Hopper (Michael "Cali" Dewitt's girlfriend) in the film, 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."[3]

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.

Reception

Last Days received mixed reviews, including from The Village Voice and The New York Times. It currently holds a 57% approval rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes, but a 67/100 on Metacritic.

Awards

The film was entered in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Technical Grand Prize.[4] It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography, but failed to win any awards at the festival.

References

  1. ↑ "LAST DAYS (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2005-06-17. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  2. ↑ Last Days at Box Office Mojo
  3. ↑ "Argento: 'I Don't Play Love'". Contact Music.
  4. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Last Days". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
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