Movies involving the destruction of humanity — yes, the title is quite literal — compose a very small subgenre of films, but one among them, the 1998 Canadian film Last Night, is among my favorites in any genre. This is almost as good.
Last Night neither explains why Earth will be destroyed nor ever suggests that it might not happen. In this movie, an asteroid is the cause, and there is only the barest suggestion (in the behavior of some characters) that it might not happen. Last Night has an ensemble cast and explores the many different ways — hedonism, denial, despair — that different people might deal with this. This movie features all of those reactions, but is mostly about two apartment-dwelling neighbors who meet less than two weeks before the end.
Dodge (Steve Carrell) is an insurance agent whose wife has literally walked away from the marriage when the last hope for saving Earth has failed. Carrying his sadness around with quiet dignity, he has the demeanor of someone trying not to be a bother to anyone. (Of course, we never get to see what drove his wife away.) Penny is an emotionally expansive, but generally cheerful figure of contrast. And so, for reasons I’ll leave to the film, off they go.
One reasonable objection to this movie might be the relatively minimal breakdown in society. Some rioting (a key plot point) and some other odd behaviors are certainly seen. Yet very close to the end, roads are passable, a convenience store is open for business, most houses are undamaged, and a lonely anchorman continues to appear on television, which continues to be watchable. However, because Dodge and Penny’s behaviors seem real (in light of the , and because this was not a techno-thriller or docudrama, I was willing to forgive the perhaps too-rosy view of the end of days and the one or two scientific improbabilities.
It may be that the contemplation of the end of humanity is such an inherently poignant circumstance that it biases me toward liking any movie with this theme. (I think here also of Lars von Triers’s Melancholia and Steven Spielberg’s A.I., at least its last segment.) However, there is a believability to the primary characters and the performances, particularly Dodge/Carrell’s slow emergence from his forced stoicism. Writer-director Lorene Scafaria (her most prominent credit being the screenplay for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) is an original talent, and I hope she’ll get to make other movies despite the unimpressive box-office performance of this one.
In stories such as this, there is always a tension between what the viewer will want to happen and what, dramatically and logically, ought to happen, though sometimes those are the same. I’m not sure if Scafaria gets it right or not, but in any case, she winds up in a similar place to Last Night’s ending, which sets aside the comedy and represents the poignancy of the universal desire for intimacy.
IMDb link
viewed 7/16/14 on HBO on Demand and posted 7/17/14
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