Dir.
Gus Van Sant, 2005, USA , 97 mins
Cast:
Michael Pitt, Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Green, Nicole Vicius, Ricky Jay, Ryan Orion, Harmony Korine, Kim Gordon
The last time I heard Nirvana play live I was having stitches woven into my head in a first aid tent next to the main stage at Reading festival. Kurt Cobain had appeared onstage in a wheelchair - fresh out of drug rehab, mocking the hysteria that surrounded his own imminent self-destruction. Someone threw a bottle, and my muted perception of the concert was an experience not dissimilar to watching Gus Van Sant's Last Days, a hypnotically detached study of the final 48 hours in the life of a man called 'Blake', who bears more than a passing resemblance to the deceased 1990s rock star.
Kurt Cobain's tragic suicide on April 5th 1994 has a timeless enigmatic quality, shrouded in mystery despite lengthy investigations by the police. To make matters worse, top celebrity detective and filmmaker Nick Broomfield was forced to return an open verdict in Kurt and Courtney, despite solving just this sort of case in Biggie and Tupac. Nirvana fans should note that Last Days is not based on any new information, nor is it the result of extensive research by the filmmaker - instead it functions as a response to the event, a re-imagining of what might have happened in the final days that led to the death of a reluctant icon.
The film begins with a long shot of the central character Blake (Michael Pitt) struggling through the woods before collapsing and vomiting. Skinny and vulnerable with a shock of unkempt blonde hair, Pitt bears a striking resemblance to Kurt Cobain. In rare close-ups, differences abound, but for much of the film Gus Van Sant keeps the audience at a distance, allowing Pitt to showcase the accuracy of his physical performance - his head hanging low, his hair obscuring his face, and his body appearing so fragile that the slightest blow, let alone the force of a shotgun, could shatter it.
The story will be familiar to anyone who has seen Performance. A reclusive rock star, jaded by fame, has retreated to a crumbling house accompanied by a series of androgynous bisexual 'friends'. The difference is, Blake has little or no interaction with anyone, and any reference to previous rock biopics is incidental. Last Days is a quiet, meditative film, which contains little dialogue and even less dramatic action. Blake (Pitt) spends much of the time alone in various locations in and around his house in the woods. He makes himself simple meals, watches television, plays some music, and generally avoids answering the phone. Much of what serves as a plot is defined by absence. So much is missing from his life that what remains is almost irrelevant. We do not see his wife or his new baby, nor do we see fellow band members or anyone who could be classed as a close or personal friend. Blake has become a cipher, a shell of his former self, hollowed out by depression and detachment. He walks the earth like a ghost, reminiscent of his namesake in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man.
There is little doubt that Gus Van Sant wanted to create an authentic response to true life events. This film is not 'entertainment' in any traditional sense, and avoids filmic clichés in an attempt to get closer to a sense of realism. The cinematography is composed mostly of wide or long shots with minimal editing and very limited use of the continuity system. Harris Savides' gliding camera spends much of its time behind or to the side of the main characters, quietly observing their progress from one scene to the next. This contrasts strongly with the subjective use of sound - often it seems that we are inside Blake's head as his heightened paranoia makes incidental sound effects seem too close and very threatening.
The sense of disorientation is heightened by a narrative that often repeats itself: In a key scene, a young woman opens a door to find Blake collapsed in a room and it is unclear whether he is dead or alive. Five minutes later we have our answer, as we watch Blake fall asleep whilst watching MTV, only to be interrupted as a woman opens a door. Gus Van Sant used this device to great effect in Elephant, and the similarity between the two films is striking. Both films are concerned with premature death, and share the elegant use of documentary viewpoint, but Last Days lacks the clarity of Elephant's lean 81 minutes.
For too much of the duration, Last Days feels thin and lacking in content. The themes (the elements, resurrection) are perhaps oversimplified, and more critically there is no new information or any true insight into a story that has captured the imagination of a generation. Whilst this approach is true to the subject matter - we don't know why he did it - it is ultimately frustrating and somewhat non-committal. It is as if Gus Van Sant has nothing to add to the story, and is simply reminding us of the facts as they stand, without any further assumptions.
We learn little or nothing about the main character, asides from the fact that he is clearly unhappy. Pitt has captured Cobain's physicality, but weakens this impression by consistently mumbling throughout the film, which proves distracting and somewhat clichéd. But it would be very harsh to write this film off as a failure. Despite the fact that the plot is underdeveloped, the film remains captivating for its authenticity and for the moments when it shows the potential of its subject matter. In one scene, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon delivers a powerful performance as a record company executive, sent to save Blake from himself. This moment is haunting, primarily because Gordon, herself now an ageing grunge rock-star represents the future that he will never see. But the highlight of the film is a darkly comic sequence where Blake collapses against a doorway whilst a dire Boyz II Men video plays on MTV. The camera looms on the video, cross cutting with the dozing rock star, and serves as a wonderful example of how history will remember the early nineties as a time when Nirvana ruled the world, when the truth is that in 1994 a dire r'n'b outfit called Boyz II Men were the biggest selling band in the world. Where are they now?
Robb Horsley
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