Last Resort (2000)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Pawel Pawlikowski

Writers:

Rowan Joffe (writer)
Pawel Pawlikowski (writer)

Release Date:

2 March 2001 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

When a young Russian woman and her son leave Moscow to meet her fiancé, who fails to show up, she declares political asylum. |

Plot Keywords:

Russian | Political Asylum | Immigration | Passport | Amusement Arcade

Awards:

13 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Dina Korzun	...	Tanya
Artyom Strelnikov	...	Artyom
Paddy Considine	...	Alfie
Steve Perry	...	Les (as Lindsey Honey)
Perry Benson	...	Immigration Officer
Katie Drinkwater	...	Katie
Dave Bean	...	Frank
Adrian Scarborough	...	Council Official
David Auker	...	2nd Council Official
Bruce Byron	...	Police Officer
Jim Trevellyan	...	Station Guard
Marcus Redwood	...	Cafe Owner
Zoe Sharpe	...	Gang Girl
Daniel Mobey	...	Danny

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Margate, Kent, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Quotes:

[Tanya and Artyom are in their flat in the evening, talking about Mark. Tanya is intently trying to open a can of food]
Artyom: On ne priyedat. Davay, ya otkroyu. (He's not coming. Hand me that, I'll open it.)
Tanya: Pochemu? (Why?)
Artyom: On, navernoye, peredumal. (He's probably changed his mind.)
Tanya: Pochemu? (Why?)
Artyom: Potomu chto on nevrastenik. Ty tozhe ne sovsem normal'naya. Vy, navernoye, podkhodite. (Because he's neurotic. You're not completely normal yourself, either. You're probably well suited.)

Soundtrack:

Happy Heart

The message is better than the movie.

A glowing review of this film on the radio enticed me. The review, I recalled in retrospect, was about the film's technical points. I experienced the film as a sad and predictable home movie about a Russian woman and child, who simply do not know what they are doing with their lives. The one counterpoint character in the life-in-the-gulag story line, played very well by Paddy Considine, kept the film alive, in my opinion. I was impressed with the film's ending. There was a message about responsibility and self victimization that was very refreshing. I did not feel that the film offered entertainment, even in my broadest definition, but it did offer a look at poverty, brutish bureaucracy and the consequences of ignorance in the whole realm of illegal immigration. Perhaps it could be shown regularly at airports in developing countries.