Last Resort (2000)

Director:

Pawel Pawlikowski

Writers:

Rowan Joffe
Pawel Pawlikowski

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:

Political Asylum | Russian | Immigration | Coastal Town | 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

Directed by
Pawel Pawlikowski

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Rowan Joffe
Pawel Pawlikowski

Produced by
Ruth Caleb	....	producer
Chris Collins	....	associate producer
Alex Holmes	....	executive producer
David M. Thompson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Max de Wardener

Cinematography by
Ryszard Lenczewski

Film Editing by
David Charap

Casting by
Chloe Emmerson

Production Design by
Tom Bowyer

Costume Design by
Julian Day

Production Management
Fiona Clarke	....	unit manager
Victoria Gregory	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Vincent Hazard	....	sound editor
Michael Narduzzo	....	sound mixer
John Pearson	....	sound

Stunts
Rod Woodruff	....	stunt coordinator (as Roderick Woodruff)

Other crew
Tamzin Cary	....	production secretary
Joe Oppenheimer	....	script editor

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Distributors

• A-Film Distribution (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (for)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (video)
• Artificial Eye
• EDKO Film (Hong Kong)
• Fandango
• Océan Films
• Sales Company
• Shooting Gallery (2001) (USA)
• United King Films
• Vértigo Films (Spain)

Also Known As:

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:Mne nuzhno yego uvidet', chtoby ponyat', chto proiskhodit. (I need to see him to find out what's going on.)
Artyom:Znachit, ty yego lyubish' bol'she, chem menya. Zatashchila menya cherti kuda, k chertu na kulichki. (So, you love him more than me. You dragged me all this way, to the armpit of the universe.)
[They both laugh]
Tanya:Samomu smeshno. Day ruku. Ty chto, ya tebya lyublyu. Ya tebya lyublyu, kak nikogo. Da? Ty zhe moy yedinstvennyy, moy dorogoy, moy synochek. A yego ya po-drugomu lyublyu, nel'zya sravnivat'. (That's ridiculous. Give me your hand. You know I love you. I love you, like no one else. OK? You're my one-and-only, my dearest, my little boy. But I love him in a different way, it's impossible to compare.)
[...]

Soundtrack:

Happy Heart

Slow, thoughtful, non-judgemental character piece.

A young Russian woman Tanya and her son arrive in England and claim political asylum in order to be allowed to stay. They are then put in a holding area in a sea-side town in Northern England and told they must wait for 12-16 months while their claims are processed. They find their situation and the town to be equally bleak and look for a way out. Two options present themselves - the kindness of arcade owner Alfie and the well-paying exploitation of pornographer Les.

This is a little gem of a film - very short but strong in almost every other area. The plot is not a typical life of an asylum seeker in the UK but it allows us to see life from their point of view. This doesn't mean that it's all bleak - Tanya sees humanity, exploitation, hate and indifference (the officers just doing their job who can't look into everyone's needs). The story is quite straightforward and at times doesn't seem to be going anywhere - the conclusion is pretty open, it's clever but it isn't satisfying for those wanting an end to the story. It's more a character piece that also looks at the UK's asylum policy. However it doesn't judge anyone or anything - it is wonderful in the way it simply presents the story with little sentiment or emotion and without pointing fingers at anyone or any situation. It could have easily been very preachy.

The cast are great. Korzun is a great actress and brings her character's vulnerability through. Strelnikov is also good as her son although doesn't have as much to do. Considine is excellent as Alfie - at first his character just seems to be a wide-boy type, saying "man" every few words and boasting about his fights and stuff, but his character is deeply written and is well brought out. The surprise performance for me was the role of Les, the internet pornographer who offers good money to Tanya for some strip work. It was a surprise because he was played by real life pornographer Steve Perry (his porn name is Ben Dover - quite famous in the UK) - although here he is credited as "Lindsey Honey", a made-up name. The fact that he essentially plays himself (just in terms of his job) but allows himself to be judged by the audience makes it an excellent, brave performance and he deserves recognition for it.

The film's weaknesses are minor but the fact that it is so bleak may be a turn off for those not willing to look past the surface. Also it moves quite slow and may frustrate at times. The way the scenes fade to black give it a bad TV feel - it feels like it was made to fade out to commercial breaks. Also the way that the seaside town is portrayed as "big brother" style town where the authorities see and know everything is at times a little hard to swallow.

Overall it is a great character piece that also gives a view of the UK from an foreigners point of view. It's slow, thoughtful and non-judgemental.