Last Days (2005)
Anyone who liked Gus Van Sant's most
recent films, "Gerry"
and "Elephant,"
will also like "Last Days." The film is, after all,
a continuation of the themes, both subjective and
cinematic, that the groundbreaking filmmaker has established
in those two earlier works. The question is truly
whether this film will bring new viewers to Van Sant
since the film's subject is none other than the late
spokesperson for the Grunge generation, Kurt Cobain.
Granted, Cobain is only implied
here. The fawn-like Michael Pitt, often covered here
by massive amounts of hair, facial and otherwise,
plays a rock star named "Blake" who looks like Cobain,
acts like Cobain, dresses like Cobain, has a wife
and daughter like Cobain, has a drug problem like
Cobain and hides in a Seattle area retreat like Cobain.
A disclaimer at the end says the film is inspired
by Cobain but a work of fiction, for legal reason,
but we know what's going on here.
Pitt is simply extraordinary here
providing a character who does not speak, does not
act, and does not understand. He walks about the film
muttering incoherently most of the time. He seems
bleary-eyed and strung out. We never see him inject
or ingest drugs and yet Blake is so totally out-of-it
and unaware that we assume he is either on drugs or
suffering from delusions instigated by a life filled
by doing too many drugs. Pitt only breaks this spell
to focus on music, singing one monumental song in
the film, echoing Cobain to the point of near mimicry
and still providing us with much to ponder.
Through Pitt's numbed-out, spaced-out
rock star we understand the pressure and the pitfalls
that fame has put upon a man, who is indeed an incredible
artist but who is also incapable of dealing with such
forces. Through Pitt's musical performance, we are
reminded of how this rock star became such an important
person and a spokesperson for a generation. His unblemished
yet somehow bruised songs providing a pure insight
into the angst, frustration, despair, helplessness
and furiousness of a generation without hope or focus.
Here everything is blurred: reality,
sexuality, responsibility and the meaning of existence.
Blake is a man in demand and having no mental or physical
abilities to become capable and responsible, he withdraws
into the void of hermitage, timelessness, nature and
nothingness. He becomes nearly a living void, capable
only of creating music, although this craft also seems
very close to shutting down on him.
Those who surround Blake in his
post-fame hermitage seem to have his best intentions
at heart but seem utterly incapable to truly help
him. There are couple of young men and women who live
in the same rural house as Blake and seem to be there
due to his generosity but they attempt to leave him
to himself. Only in a small moment is money (i.e.
responsibility) discussed. Not exactly oblivious to
his problems, these "friends" don't seem accomplices
in his fate but rather friends incapable of understanding
that there is a real problem here.
There is very little action in "Last
Days" and this may leave new viewers very cold. These
are small moments, seemingly small snapshots, taken
during the last days of a Cobain-like rock stars life.
Van Sant handles them with subtle yet somehow brutal
frankness. These moments begin to overwhelm us and
surely and steadily a notion of the heavy weight of
fame overtakes us much as it already has Blake. Through
this fractured moments, we begin to understand him
and empathize with him. It is a testament to Pitt's
performance and Van Sant amazing eye that we have
any feelings at all for Blake but they well up in
us slowly, eventually overwhelming us.
Van Sant also suggests his themes
with the distinct visitors that come to the secluded
rock stars mansion. There are two young Mormon Elders
who come to discuss religion, supporting the films
existential themes. A Yellow Pages salesman also visits
providing an allegorical discussion on the commercial
nature of fame and art as commodity. Finally, Ricky
Jay appears as a P.I. and has a discussion about the
"freak" aspects of fame in an allegorical discussion
of sideshow freaks of the past. These sideline conversations,
often far removed from the awareness of "Blake," provide
stunning and provocative thematic musings which underscore
the messages in the film.
"Last Days" isn't for everyone.
But I think Cobain fans are going to find a gentle,
subtle, and honest look at just what it was that made
the Nirvana frontman so fragile and withdrawn. If
they discover the magic that is Gus Van Sant in the
process, all the better. Van Sant is fast becoming
my favorite independent director. His films slyly
and slowly create monumental themes about the nature
of existence and the boredom at its heart. His films
explore the vast, empty places in modern urban life
and in doing so remind us of how awkward and frustrating
the loud, cramped, pressurized world in which we live
can become. His last three films have explored ennui
in ways that make us understand more deeply just how
fragile existence can be. Even the smallest, most
microscopic fracture can create an imbalance and an
inharmonious moment in which the entire house of cards
can come crumbling down. In "Gerry" it leads to loss.
In "Elephant" it leads to mindless homicide. In "Last
Days" in ends in suicide.
No other stories in modern culture
at the end of the Twentieth Century could be more
in tune with the themes and ideas that Van Sant seems
wont to explore than those of the Columbine shootings
(explored in "Elephant") and in the last days of Kurt
Cobain. Van Sant's genius and cinematic boldness makes
such stories the epic monuments to the fragility of
man and the horror of existence that they truly reflect.
Notes:
Also with Lukas Haas, Harmony Korine,
Asia Argento, and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.
Van Sant also scripts, produces,
edits and has a cameo as a phone voice.
Thurston Moore, also of Sonic Youth,
is the musical consultant.
Pitt performs songs live on film
in the piece.
The film is dedicated to Cobain.
The film won an award for sound
design at Cannes.
Filmed in Portland. The film frame
appears almost square as if it was lensed in 16mm,
but I don't believe it was.
Viewed at the Dobie in Austin at
a press sneak in August of 2005.
