Last Night (1998)

A group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.

Director:

Don McKellar

Writer:

Don McKellar

Stars:

Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Roberta Maxwell

12 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Don McKellar	...	Patrick Wheeler
Sandra Oh	...	Sandra
Roberta Maxwell	...	Mrs. Wheeler
Robin Gammell	...	Mr. Wheeler
Sarah Polley	...	Jennifer 'Jenny' Wheeler
Trent McMullen	...	Alex
Charmion King	...	Grandmother
Jessica Booker	...	Rose
David Cronenberg	...	Duncan
Tracy Wright	...	Donna
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Craig Zwiller
Karen Glave	...	Lily
Arsinée Khanjian	...	Streetcar Mother
Chandra Michaels	...	Streetcar Daughter (as Chandra Muszka)
Geneviève Bujold	...	Mrs. Carlton

Storyline

It's 18:00 in a somewhat deserted Toronto on the last day before the scheduled end of the world at midnight, the end which has been known now for months. Most people are treating midnight as a matter-of-fact event with little sense of panic. In fact, many are celebrating this last day. Most have very specific wants for this last day and will do whatever they need to to make those wants happen. And some, such as Duncan and Donna with the gas company, are working, ensuring that the masses are served and comfortable during the final hours. The Wheeler family are marking the last day by having a Christmas party, although sullen adult son Patrick, his thoughts in part stemming from being recently widowed, has made it clear he wants to be alone in his own home at the end. Patrick's wants may be in jeopardy when a woman named Sandra - Duncan's wife - lands on his doorstep. Sandra is stranded, trying to make it across town to her own home so that she and Duncan can carry out their own last ...

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Plot Keywords:

watching television | 360 degree well camera shot | midnight | turn of the century | end of the world | 

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Taglines:

It's not the end of the world... there's still six hours left

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality, language and brief violence

Details

Country:

Canada France

Language:

English French

Release Date:

23 October 1998 (Canada)

Also Known As:

A Última Noite

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rhombus Media,Téléfilm Canada,La Sept-Arte

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was a result of director Don McKellar's invitation to participate in a challenge to make a movie about the imminent Millennium. Instead of making a movie that he felt might date itself too quickly, he opted to make it about the end of the world rather than just the end of the Millennium.

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Goofs

In the early moments of the movie, when the car's up on it's bumper against the pole, the girl puts her keys in the door to unlock it and when the door opens, the bell goes off, to alert that the keys are in the ignition, or that the lights are on. Neither is true.

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Quotes

Patrick Wheeler: I think maybe I should mention before you make any faux pas here, that we have a tradition in this family, that we don't kill other people.

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks to the director's exploited friends.

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Connections

References Guantanamera (1995)

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Soundtracks

Silent Night
Written by Franz Xaver Gruber (uncredited) and Joseph Mohr (uncredited)
Performed by Rita MacNeil
Reproduced by arrangement with EMI Music Canada and Lupins Productions

User Reviews

Apocalypse on a human scale

The world is going to end at midnight; it's six pm now. The impending catastrophe has been known about for months but nothing can be done about it.

Government has been wound down. There's a certain amount of mayhem, looting, and bloodshed in the streets, but most of that ended weeks ago; now people are just quietly resigned. The nature of the disaster is never specified or even mentioned, but cleverly hinted at. Sooner or later you'll suddenly realise what it must be to do with, and when you do it's a breath-catching moment. Once you notice this, the closest thing the film has to a big special effect, it becomes increasingly appalling as time goes on.

There are to be no last-minute attempts to save the earth. They were known to be futile before the film begins. Instead, people calmly make preparations for their last night alive. It's a bit like wanting to do something special for your birthday. Craig (Callum Keith Rennie) is living out the four-letter answer most people would give if asked 'What would you do if the world was about to end' - as he has been, methodically and systematically, for the past few weeks. Sandra (Sandra Oh) is trying to get across the chaotic city to her beloved husband. Patrick (Don McKellar, who also wrote and directed, brilliantly) attends a last family meal and plans a quiet evening alone with a Pete Seeger record. Almost everyone else is heading downtown for the big end of the world party.

Flashes of black humour help make things bearable, but I can't convey how genuinely chilling and terribly moving the film becomes before the end. Pre-millennium there were a handful of end-of-the-world films, most based around big-budget special effects. For a grumpy misanthropist such as myself, who officially couldn't care if the world was to end, even a blockbuster disaster movie like Deep Impact was a salutary experience, making me realise that I really, really don't mean that, and that for all its travails and miseries life is precious. But by excluding special effects and scientific explanations, and precluding the possibility of averting the end, and focusing entirely on the human, Last Night is far, far better and left me drained and devastated.

I almost prefaced these remarks with a 'Don't watch this alone' but decided, nah, other people can be a pain when you're trying to watch a film. But if you watch it alone and late at night as I did, be warned that after the end you may feel a strong urge to make contact with one of those annoying other people, at 2 in the morning, a friend, a relative, your milkman, anyone.

But watch this you must, for it's a great cinematic work of art.