A random act of theft has put Tom Hammond's life into a tailspin. Stolen from his bookshop is Tom's most treasured possession, a photograph of him with his son Luke...their last moment of shared happiness. The Last Photograph is set between London in 2002, and a dark night in 1988 when Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie.
USA
Boulder International Film Festival
UK
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Ireland12
Cork Film festival
USA
UK
Ireland
UK
USA
when i watch an actor's filmography, i like to save their debut film for last so that's what i did for jonah!
this movie was heartbreaking and devastating and beautiful and all over the place. the back-and-forth between past and present was confusing at times but once i understood it, it made sense. the "twist" if you could call it that made my jaw drop. the way the father dealt with grief after losing his son (and wife before that) was portrayed in such a real and honest way. the dock scene where he sees the father and son pulled at my heartstrings. lastly, an amazing debut movie for jonah if i do say so myself!
officially done with jonah's filmography until his new projects come out!!!! this was the most fun i've had watching someone's filmography so far!! i can't wait to see what else he does in the future! i hope his face is on my screen forever
A strong performance from Danny Huston in this moving drama that manages to avoid becoming grief porn.
Huston directs himself in this lightweight tale of the grief of a father who lost his son in the Lockerbie disaster ten years prior. Told with flashback to his son's life upon meeting his first love, a New Yorker who he would meet in her home city, the fateful flight of which would tragically crash in Scotland. The last photograph Huston has of him and his son is stolen by a petty thief and his grief is reopened upon this loss. The neighbouring business owner, Hannah, provides some help in coming to terms with his loss. Whilst the story itself is nothing new the film is far too plodding and the techniques, flashback in black and white, dizzying camera movements,…
There's a compelling story here & some overall good work done, but nothing makes it outstanding.
It's a bad sign when the pivotal scene that propels the plot is so clumsily handled.
Jonah Hauer-King said he fell in love with a girl with brown hair who also studied English Literature, and let me tell you... I have both of those things.
(39/365)
The Last Photograph tries really hard to go for drama over melodramatic, and unfortunately it ends up caught right in the middle, refusing to commit to one or the other. This makes it difficult to know precisely how to weigh this story emotionally. I was never quite certain whether it was wanting me to think and to ponder or to set that aside and simply just feel. And every time I would give myself to one or the other I couldnt shake the sense that it was never quite as compelling or emotionally resonant as it needed to be.
It could be that the story is fairly particular. The things that the characters are dealing with arent necessarily, but the…
The Last Photograph is a unique, gently experimental film which offers two distinct yet equally well considered and touching portraits of grief. Though the climactic turn of events will be logical and maybe even predictable for those who remember the disaster that Danny Huston’s film is loosely based on, screenwriter Simon Astaire creates suspense by interleaving multiple timeframes. This device makes way for apt yet unobtrusive period set dressing, just one of the ways The Last Photograph is eloquently expressive rather than clumsily heavy-handed in revealing information.
This subtlety extends to the dialogue too. Huston and Jonah Hauer-King have a very natural conversational dynamic, particularly in a key flashback scene, yet Astaire never wastes…
