BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The_Film_Cricket What would you do if you knew that the world was going to end at midnight? If we knew it was absolutely the last night on earth and we had ample warning, how would we spend it? Some would spend time with family and friends. Others wouldn't wait until midnight. Some would spend it in church. Some would settle old scores either with apologies or with a gun. Others would spend it on a sexual free-for-all. Many, I suspect, would turn to violence and destruction - that is, if I now humanity the way I think I do.'Last Night' is an end-of-the-world scenario that examines how a group of individuals choose to spend their final hours on earth. Sandra (the wonderful Sandra Oh) spends all day trying to get back home to her husband Duncan (David Cronenberg) after her car is trashed by looters; Craig (Callum Keith Rennie) wants to spend the day living out all of his deepest sexual fantasies; Patrick (Don McKellar, the film's director) is a young widower who wants to spend his last evening at home listening to music; Sandra's husband Duncan owns the power station and spends his day waiting for Sandra by calling his customers to let them know that the power will remain on right to the end.Those personal stories set this movie apart from most films about the end-times which tend to portray the end of the world as a disaster movie, with falling buildings, mass hysteria, looting and hyper-active special effects. This film is quiet because it focuses on personalities. I can imagine Robert Altman directing a movie like this.It is directed instead by Don McKellar who shows a lot of restraint with this characters and his stories. The people act as real people would and talk as real people might. He sets the story in Toronto (this is a Canadian production) on an unknown date and never gives a reason for why the world is ending - the characters already know, so why sit around yapping about it? The sun never goes down, even at 10pm so we assume that the sun is about to go supernova (why exactly midnight is never revealed either). The mass looting has subsided because there is nothing left to steal. What looting remains only happens in the backgrounds of certain shots. There are no police anywhere and, we're told, the governments of the world shut down some time ago.Those details in place, this is simply a movie about personalities. The most intriguing is Sandra who, I think, represents most of us. She has an agenda (one that isn't revealed until the third act) and her face is a mask of frustration as she attempts to find some mode of transportation to get across town and back to her husband. She's played by the wonderfully underrated Sandra Oh who is one of the most relaxed and natural actresses. I've seen her in films like Sideways and Rabbit Hole but there she reveals a whole different level. What is waiting for Sandra when she gets back with Duncan is painful, but even more is the issue of not getting being able to back to him. She as a promise to keep to him and it is killer her that she cannot fulfill it.Nothing can bring about our faith nor our true nature like knowing that the end is near. That fact brings an odd unpredictability to Last Night because we get to know the characters but we wait to see the poignancy in their final moments. This is a sad film but not a maudlin one. The fact that director Don McKellar avoids the obvious melodramatic high point and just focuses on people and who they are makes the end of the film inevitable, unpredictable on a personal level and finally very touching.

ananias73 ...means the reborn of the human nature! This is the last night on earth, the nature of the disaster will remain unknown (no mention about that through the whole film but who cares), people quietly prepare themselves for the end deciding with who or how they will spend their last six hours on earth! One is trying to come across the city to meet her lovely husband to commit suicide together, other attends a family meal and decides to spend the night all alone, another person has already write all over his house's walls which exactly sexual fantasy remains to do, this is a deeply emotional travel to human nature near the end, their fears, their abandoned values, their growth to something beyond their lonely life. Excellent performances by everyone (especially from Callum Keith-Rennie as always and Sandra Oh who both received deserved Genie Awards), a personal triumph for Don McKellar (director, writer and actor in the main character role as Patrick). One of the best Canadians films ever

Michael O'Keefe Don McKellar writes, directs and stars in this dry humored drama dealing with the end of the world. Citizens of Toronto deal with the world's coming to an end at the stroke of midnight and new millennium. Some celebrate with violence, some vandalism; Patrick Wheeler(McKellar)suffers through a faux Christmas reunion. But he wants to spend that last moment alone in his apartment. Sandra(Sandra Oh)tries to get across town to commit suicide with her husband. A gas company employee(David Cronenberg)spends his time making courtesy calls. Craig (Calllum Keith Rennie)hopes to achieve sexual satisfaction with a special list of women...a black woman, a virgin and his favorite old teacher(Genevieve Bujold). Patrick finds Sandra at his doorstep wanting to use the phone. He tries to help her home, but as the final moments of time ticks, the two are pointing pistols at each other's head. I almost gave up on this film twice; but there was still something about it that kept me watching. Like a bottle of Scotch, LAST NIGHT requires an acquired taste.

john1250 i just like to add to your evidence #1 ###1. The film never mentions WHEN the people found out the world was going to end. They very likely could have known about the impeding doom for *****months or even years***** in advance. I'm sure after an initial state of panic, things died (no pun intended) down to the state we see in the film.### I just like to say that they couldn't have been informed earlier than a few weeks, the information of the end of the world. As you saw (i hope) at the beginning of the movie, while Sandra Oh was shopping that the shop still had, not lot, but some foods left on the shelves. Especially why i think that the people got informed of the tragedy in a less than a month is because of the conditions of the food and the champagne evenmore the clearness of the shop. If they got informed of the news as you said "...months or even years..." there will be no food left in the shop, even more surprising fact is that the shop wasn't out of food. even that they were informed "...months or even years..." earlier. Thinking logically, people stopped working a "...months or even years..." earlier, there will be no food coming in but considering the fact that there is still chunks of food left, not chunks, but big pieces like fine champagne, they couldn't have been informed in advance "...moths or even years..." earlier the end of the world.