MisterWhiplash Perhaps it was because I generally like his films from the 80's and 90's (let's think - Ms. 45, King of New York, Bad Lieutenant, The Funeral, even obscurities like Dangerous Game and China Girl), I was curious about 4:44 Last Days on Earth by Abel Ferrara, so I saw it in a (brief) theatrical run. It's a bizarre, even experimental film that's set pretty much all in the apartment of Willem Dafoe's character, Cisco. Ferrara sets this tale of existential angst and contemplation with images of the apocalypse on-coming. There's also a female companion, Shanyn Leigh.It's not a long film, so there is that if you're wondering if it will be a slog. I didn't find it to be, in large part because Ferrara was making an honest, subtle attempt at trying to change the form of an apocalypse story. He had clearly a small budget to work with, so why not use the prowess and talent of someone like Dafoe? He's really the reason to see this, if you like his work here he delivers a soulful, bare-all performance that doesn't go TOO far like Antichrist for example.If anything else, this film is a departure for Ferrara to try and explore desperation in an untenable situation - human beings knowing and faced with their end. Is it the strongest representation of how to stage this? Probably not. The director is indulging himself into just exploring things and themes and ideas through his characters, through the paintings we see the girl paint, through, well, Skype chats (if I remember correctly). But there's poignancy to this odd little movie that doesn't shy away from emotional truths, from exposing raw nerves, which is always what Ferrara is good at.

mauraid This film is fairly disturbing. It is very well acted and absolutely true to life. Some reviewers question the portrayal of many people as going about their daily lives in the face of disaster. As someone who has experienced the possibility of death and spent time in a residence where people were dying, that is pretty much what most people do. Whether it is because denial is such a motivator or just because most folks don't have the funds to change their lives in a big way, most folks just keep on keeping on. You talk to loved ones, say goodbye, settle up unsettled business and put on the clothes you have been saving for a special occasion.My problems with this film are that the science is not explained and the story contains no concrete lessons. The moral seems to be 'I told you so.' It also is not moving. Therein lies its biggest failing. A quiet, thoughtful end of days film should leave the moviegoer with a desire to avoid the events of the movie. As a person with a history of activism, at the conclusion of this film I was discomfited, somewhat depressed but had no desire to do more about the environment. Why make a movie about an avoidable end of the world if not to move people?Why should you see it? Because it lays blame where blame belongs: on each and every one of us. The spacemen didn't do it. Terrorists didn't do it. Muslims, Koreans, Communists - none of them did it. We did it to ourselves and the Al Gore clip is not laughable but probably the scariest part of the film because it is real.

p-stepien Judgement day is upon us. Having raped Mother Earth for resources we have brought about her death with her essence dilapidated and ravaged, thus bringing about an abrupt end to all life, as we die en masse with a bright light of an ozone layer mega-burp. People attempt to cope with the inevitable, mostly be lingering around a computer with Skype access to say farewells, or just start jamming out some sick melodies online. A successful young painter Skye (Shanyn Leigh) and her elderly famous actor lover Cisco (Willem Dafoe) spend their last days next to each other, mostly absent in mind and body, occasionally getting down and dirty with sex the ultimate completion of love.Resident American bad-boy Abel Ferrara grinned across the red carpet in Venice in 2011 with his apocalyptic end of days summary of human existence. Closer to the self-flagellatory oblivious oblivion of von Trier's "Melancholy" (also with respect to possessing an equally idiotic premise for Earth's demise) than the light-weight, but emotionally engrossing "A Friend for the End of the World", Ferrara's independent drama dwells in overly prolonged moments, which litter the movie, but fail to fill it with substance.Rough around the edges (to say the least) this poke at sci-fi follows the same old path as most art-house directors attempting to venture into the genre: they introduce an absolutely absurd plot and justify this laziness with 'symbolism' and 'higher purpose'. Maybe not as idiotic as the incoming planet Melancholia, but still thinly layered and done with much less poetry than von Trier. Here we have a notion introduced that 'Al Gore was right' and that the depleted ozone layer will cause the world to burst into flames at one precise moment, ie. 4:44 AM (not even the biggest pessimists of global warming would ever conceive something as absurd). Meanwhile, before this sudden blast of fiery fury life goes on as usual, even on judgement day street life seemingly unchanged (apart from certain minor events), while no cosmic events lead up to the inevitable. Cisco portrays culpability of every single human being through a dream sequence, where he cuts down a tree. Basically showing the heavy-handed approach chosen by Ferrara. Now... I can be labelled somewhat of an eco-nut, but the symbolic premise is brutally thin and sloppily added on, with no true feel that the end of days is upon us (a far cry from the limited ambitions of "A Friend for the End of the World").Dropping the eco-pretext and letting it linger in the background the movie is about ending, closing and accepting. But is closure ever possible? Maybe not, but acceptance is inevitable. Here we labour down this path following the whirlwind emotions with snail's pace. Furthermore with death creeping ever closer we find Skye more intrigued with finishing her final painting, while Cisco spends time peeping through binoculars into other people's houses, possibly Ferrara's suggestion that detachment was natural, while only the ultimate end pulls people back into each others arms. Nonetheless this solitude near the end serves to offer two worthwhile scenes in the movie. The first involves a Vietnamese immigrant, who still delivers food on judgement day, simply because he is disconnected from his family abroad and in his lonely desperation decides not to alter his path. The other has Cisco observing other people during the final minutes of existence and almost admiring how they cope with the inevitable. Two scenes alone which made the movie a passable experience, even if the contrived dysfunctional relationship of Cisco and Skye just drags along to a poetically unsatisfying conclusion.

jamesburk61 Don't waste any time watching this movie. Is it possible to rate a movie with a negative number? Just saying! It's an "artsy fartsy film, minus the artsy. I would like to say this isn't the worst film ever, but I can't think of a movie I have ever watched that was worse. If you are going to watch this movie I would recommend the following steps. Step one, get a big bowl of popcorn. Two, get your favorite soda. Next get comfy in your favorite chair, then, start movie. Then walk over to TV, pick it up and throw it out your window. Then sit back down and enjoy your popcorn and pop. The film is slow, poor audio quality, and its biggest sin of all is it's boring.