Last Days

Gus Van Sant
2005

While 'Elephant' was a spectacular triumph I think Gus Van Sant has finally reached the point where he needs someone to keep his extreme overindulgence in check. Van Sant and DP Harris Savides have managed to churn out another visually incredible yet contestable (and even sometimes reprehensible) topical film dealing with iconic pop events and figures.

'Last Days' is a fictional account of Kurt Cobain's final days of seclusion in rural Seattle before suiciding. Cobain, named Blake here, stumbles around a run down mansion, mumbling, eating junk food, tinkering with instruments, and avoiding human contact.

While Van Sant treated the Columbine massacre with an appropriate degree of gravity it seems that the death of Kurt Cobain, an event just as catastrophic to many, is treated with an awkwardly inappropriate amount of humor. Given, elements of 'Last Days' are justifiably humorous and deserve to be funny, but it seems the tragic implications are given a back seat in an effort to make things quirky and entertaining.

Michael Pitt's physical representation of Kurt Cobain is as good as any actor's transformation for a biopic. Will Smith's Mohammed Ali and Charlize Theron's Aileen Wuornos both come to mind. However Pitt imbues the role with a certain quality of embarrassing exaggeration that will spark denouncement from many a die hard Nirvana fan (though its hard to imagine a true Nirvana fan completely enjoying 'Last Days' in any capacity).

Van Sant made 'Elephant' as somber dirge for the pain of teenage tragedy but failed to treat 'Last Days' with the same amount amount of pathos and sincerity. The visual poetry of the Van Sant / Savides team is consequently cheapened a little and becomes a high quality version of David LaChapelle's work. Regardless, 'Last Days' does retain a good degree of raw cinematic beauty. The opening scenes of the film remain as solid and touching as anything Van Sant and Savides have made before.

Review by Brett A. Scieszka