4:44 Last Days on Earth [Blu-ray] [Import]

What would one do when one realised that the world would end in 24 hours?
This film made a brief illustration using the mind set of a small group of people
in a large city.
It is an indie film difficult to watch at times but I found it rewarding and I didn't
expect it to be a disaster film.
A good effort by the filmmaker, the actors and the crew.

What would you do on the eve of the planet's destruction? That is the question posited by Abel Ferrara's "4:44 Last Day On Earth." The answer, it would seem, is to live it much like any other. I'm a fan of Ferrara as a filmmaker, I find him refreshingly unpredictable. I'm not sure, however, that "4:44 Last Day On Earth" conveyed and/or made the most of its intriguing premise. While I appreciate that not every apocalyptic endeavor has to be big, bold, and melodramatic--at times this felt so underplayed as to be virtually non-existent. While the concept and images advertising the movie may make it seem like a thriller (the word suspenseful is used in the description), this is a slow burn contemplation in which not much happens. Luckily, Ferrera had the wherewithal to cast Willem Dafoe as his central protagonist. Dafoe, as usual, makes for interesting viewing. This seems like an incredibly personal work for Ferrera and the intimacy that Dafoe brings to his performance is never less than fascinating.

The inconvenient truth of the situation is that Al Gore and his contemporaries were correct about their dire environmental predictions. Catastrophe, however, is way ahead of schedule and the end of the world has been pinpointed with precision. How? Don't ask. Despite the fact that it is supposedly the last day on earth (not everyone believes it, even though news broadcasts have ended due to the imminent game changer), nothing seems too drastically different in Dafoe's neighborhood. Traffic and pedestrians seem normal, stores and bars are open, you can order Chinese food. There is never a real sense of doom. Most of the movie is spent in one apartment with Dafoe and his girlfriend (Shanyn Leigh) dancing, using Skype, painting, making love, or just hanging out independently. Ferrera's point, perhaps, is that life goes on even if there isn't much of it left. While an interesting notion from an intellectual perspective, it doesn't necessarily make riveting entertainment.

I do give "4:44 Last Day On Earth" a marginal recommendation (mostly for the performances) for the arthouse crowd, I'm not sure the film will have a universal appeal. At a mere 82 minutes, I kept wishing 4:44 in the morning would arrive sooner. The film has a pleasing grittiness and rawness, and I appreciated the use of actual news footage (constantly playing in the background) to make the apocalypse seem tangible. Once again, don't think this is a thriller! It is a stagnant character piece with minimal dialogue. I'm not sure what I'd do on my last night on earth, I can only hope it would be more interesting than what is presented here. Ferrera's vision is filled with shopping, Chinese take-out, and karaoke. An interesting approach, to be sure, but not as compelling as I hoped. Watched it with a friend, he bailed at the 30 minute mark. KGHarris, 7/12.

if i had never seen an abel ferrara film before, i might have hated it as much as everyone else here. however, i have been watching him for decades, he is an acquired taste. he is very arty, surreal, visual. he likes ideas and exploring them to the nth degree. i thought he did a very good job of ahowing how people might act on the last day of the world. there are scenes which i think are very right on and then others that are off. i will discuss each grouping.

the off scenes: people still reporting for work, such as driving taxis, clerking at convenience stores, delivering food from restaurants. i don't think anyone would be working on the last day well, let me amend that. there is one news anchor who states he can't imagine any finer way to finiish than doing a last broadcast. that i believed. there is also an incredible amount of noise coming from their street. this is the bustle of a busy city with sirens and congestion. i think it would be considerably more silent as far as those kinds of sounds, but these are not major scenes and ferrara does a much better job on the bigger scenes.

the right on scenes: people are skypeing one another primarily with apple computers. they want to see one another one last time. a guy simply walks out onto his fire escape and jumps, ending his life before the end comes. cisco, willem defoe, tells his ex-wife that he has always really loved her and he was really confused during the divorce. this his second, young wife, sky, overhears and goes ballistic. sky paints her way through the last day on a large canvas on the floor. she paints most of what she is feeling. she does the last of it in her favorite evening gown. cisco takes a last walk through the city streets and many people are drinking or partying one last time. cisco almost chickens out and kills himself before the end. the tv plays constantly of various leaders who were interviewed at the time they learned of the last day.

the last ten minutes of the movie ferrara unleashes his considerable visual talent to give us a montage of images for the end of the world. i thought these were great

i did think the movie opened slowly and with a very long explicit lovemaking scene between cisco and skye. i found that rather boring after the first few minutes and probably would have turned it off if i hadn't seen ferrara before. somehow in the first twenty minutes of the movie he seems to have forgotten everything he knew about pacing. but he recovers and i started to enjoy it then.

defoe is a long time favorite actor of farrerra's as is harvey keitel and christopher walken. before you write him off, you should try some of his film which feature these actors.