The Last Family (2016)

The story of a well-known artistic family: legendary painter Zdzislaw Beksinski, his wife Zofia and their son Tomasz, a highly-praised music critic and translator. Their lives were far from being usual.

Director:

Jan P. Matuszynski

Writer:

Robert Bolesto

Stars:

Andrzej Seweryn, Dawid Ogrodnik, Aleksandra Konieczna

29 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andrzej Seweryn	...	Zdzislaw Beksinski
Dawid Ogrodnik	...	Tomasz Beksinski
Aleksandra Konieczna	...	Zofia Beksinska
Andrzej Chyra	...	Piotr Dmochowski
Zofia Perczynska	...	Stanislawa Beksinska
Danuta Nagórna	...	Stanislawa Stankiewicz
Alicja Karluk	...	Patrycja
Magdalena Boczarska	...	Ewa
Agnieszka Michalska	...	Helena
Jaroslaw Gajewski	...	Redactor
Pawel Paczesny	...	Grzesiek
Grzegorz Felus	...	Psychiatrist
Adam Szyszkowski	...	Jan Nowak
Lukasz Gawronski	...	Oskar Nowak
Dagmara Mrowiec	...	Maria Nowak

Storyline

As renowned painter Zdzislaw Beksinski tapes everything with his beloved camcorder, a 28-year family saga unfolds through his disturbing dystopian paintings, family feuds, near-death experiences, love-hate relations and consecutive funerals. The true story of the artistic Beksinski family: Zdzislaw, his wife Zofia and their talented yet trouble-making son Tomasz.

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Plot Keywords:

painter | murder | suicide | dysfunctional family | 1970s | 

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Taglines:

Family life isn't always sunshine and rainbows.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Release Date:

30 September 2016 (Poland)

Also Known As:

The Last Family

Filming Locations:

Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aurum Film, HBO Europe, Lightcraft

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Frantic (1988)

User Reviews

It's a mad mad mad mad family.

This is really something. I could not believe I saw it. It was challenging, but I did it. When a biopic was made, surely there will be a solid reason behind it. That could be a positive message or highlighting the negatives or the important historic events. But it's always about how much you know about that person the film portrayed. If he is someone famous, but not in your nation, yeah, you would be desperate to learn about him through the given film. That's the case for me in here, but that's not what exactly happened.

This was a life drama of one of the renowned Polish painters of the last century. Mainly focused on him, his family and overall their lifestyle. It was not stylish, but craziest. Yep, I could not understand the entire film and thought why someone has to make a film like this. Then it was not until the final scene, I thought worth a watch. Moreover, I was shocked how it ended, after two hours of nothing, but a family madness. Yeah, the end was like another genre. You could consider it a black comedy, which is not actually, but somehow for the reasons it feels like that way, until the final scene.

It was the last three decades of life story of Zdzislaw Besinski. Started off in the 70s, where his son moved to a new apartment close by. But he's a trouble who attempting to self-killing. Then his ageing mother has to be taken care. So, basically there's always an issue in the family. All this insanity keeps happening for the next couple of decades. As the years pass by, as the technology changing, so do this family, but shrinking from the strength. Until the mid 2000s, where the narration comes to halt with an unexpected twist.

❝Wherever I go, I've to act like other people, do what everyone else does. I've got to play a role to get the things I want or to be liked. I've to keep acting. I can't get out of this.❞

The more I recollect everything I saw, the more I started to like it. You will agree with me that the film was uninteresting in the beginning. Not just the beginning, but almost entirely. Though the value of the film will be realised once you finish watching it and as I said while analysing the scenes in your head makes to change your stance. The opening scene and the end scene are totally opposite. That's the highlight of the film, and the meaning of the title. Anyway, the final scene was sudden and brutal. Not good for little fellows.

A feature film debut for the director. He was good though. While watching it, I thought the writing was bad. One thing I have learnt in my life was that no judging a film by its poster, its synopsis or its cast and crew, and also not after watching just a few minutes of its opening. On a few occasions, the budgets as well. So, the key for this film is the patience. Sitting for it quietly over a hundred minutes will make the difference as it did for me. But that does not mean everyone would love it at the end.

It somewhat looks like a documentary film, that's because of the film having plenty of found footage kind of narration in parts. The actors were amazing. Like the whole film was shot in a couple of flats with a few shots elsewhere. That means, the story firmly decoding the family and nothing else. The end was sad, I could not take it. But the film was just telling the truth. Not a kind of film to recommend, but surely worth a watch if you are not looking to have a good time, I meant to enjoy watching it.

8/10