What can I say about Last Night that hasn't already been said? Well, to start, I feel this is the kind of Canadian film we Canadians have been BEGGING to see for years. However, because of the fact that the film saw limited release in arthouse theatres across the country, and is just appearing on video now, chances are good that Last Night will not be seen by a large majority of the public if not sent in to full release across the United States.
This movie is Canadian -- without shoving the fact that it is down your throat.
Now, on to the actual guts of the movie. I find the understatement of the fact that the world IS ending in six short hours to be so uniquely Canadian. There is an odd, somewhat macabre scene in the movie where McKellar's character is being harassed by his mother for showing up late for "Christmas" dinner. Not once does mother mention the end of the world. McKellar's response? "... and in case you haven't noticed the world is going to end today, and I've had a lot on my mind."
Getting off my maple leaf waving-high-horse, I will say this: the performances by McKellar, Sandra Oh and Callum Keith Rennie are nothing short of superb. They portray characters you at times love, hate, and fear, because there are times (many times) that we see ourselves in these characters.
The soundtrack for Last Night (available on the Sony Classical label) is a mixture of both the corniest music on the face of the earth (Burton Cummings' live performance of Glamour Boy) to great oldies (Last Night [I Didn't Get to Sleep at All]) to songs few (if any people) have ever heard before (i.e. the Defranco Family's "Heartbeat, its a Lovebeat")
The story moves at a graceful pace, there are no surprise endings, and the characters are human(e). Last Night is a masterpiece.
