mercuryix2003 ......are the only two words that apply to this film. It can only be called a film because that was the medium it was shot in. We will never know what was in Gus Van Sant's mind when he made this movie, and that may be his private joke; because he may very well have had nothing in mind when he made it. The film is a detached view of the last days of a self-indulgent, unaware drug addict, so detached that it might have been shot with a security camera affixed to the wall as it watches a man stumble around, ignore his friends, stumble around, ignore his family, stumble around, listen to a Jehova's Witness try to convert him as he sits there totally tuned out, stumble around, hide from a detective trying to find him, stumble around, wander into a potting shed, stumble around, and die. I have just given you the entire plot of Last Days, but did not give a "spoiler alert", as there is no plot, action or dialog to spoil. If a friend wanted to show you a security video of the last eight hours of a homeless drug addict's life in an alley before he slowly dies in front of you, would you watch it? I actually would, rather than watch this again. Because at least I would be watching a real life and death event, without the suffocating pretentiousness of this film.On top of that, we can't forget that we are watching the pointless and self-indulgent destruction of a millionaire who had far more success than he deserved, was overrated to an embarrassing degree, was more narcissistic than was previously thought humanly possible, and had friends, family and a wife who loved him far more than he deserved. In his own suicide note, Cobain referred to himself as a big baby. At least he was self aware to that degree. His mother after his death said "now he's gone and joined that stupid club". (Referring to the death of Jimmy Hendrix and Joplin by drug overdose, at age 28). His mother had more meaning, depth and insight in her life than her son ever did. Who cares about his life, he wasted it, and who cares about his death, as he didn't care about whoever cared about him? That is the feeling this film leaves in you; though I'm not sure Gus Van Sant cared about any meaning or effect this film had. Finally, who cares about this film? Its subject had no meaning and nothing to say, and neither does this. If you somehow think Kurt Cobain was a "genius" of some kind, and that his death at a young age had some kind of deep meaning, please, please consider a better role model. (And no, Marilyn Manson is not a better role model. At least Cobain wasn't That pathetic.....)

ludwig1800 Honestly, I can't believe all the negative reviews this movie has received.I belong to a film society, and therefore have seen quite a few "art-house" films, most of which I have either fallen asleep in or found absolutely ridiculous (don't get me started on the so-called "classic" Eraserhead...). This is literally the only art-house film I have seen in my life that I have actually enjoyed, alongside a "roadie" movie.On to the movie. The camera angles are amazing (there are actually certain times in the film where Michael Pitt looks exactly like Kurt Cobain), the general absence of music works surprisingly well, and Blake's mumbling and aimless wandering mirrors Cobain in his final days. The only part of this movie I didn't get at all was the two guys talking in the car about the circus magician. The minimalistic aspect of this film is brilliant. Not for everyone though (especially those who expect to see a "biography" of Cobain's final days). Many people seem to think that Blake is Kurt Cobain, when he is not. He is BASED on Kurt Cobain. The "Death to Birth" song, and the final madrigal "La Guerre" are just absolutely beautiful. 10/10

LeonLouisRicci It is ironic that in an era of high-speed communications and hyper-dimensional physics that the children of these creations would choose to express their exacerbations in a primal mumble of modern madness, while sleepwalking through their nightmare.The Director's low-key, laid back, and standoff style are appropriate, with little dialog using sound and fluid composition to facilitate the ethereal essence of the environment.A parallel but not a specific profile, the similarities to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain are a worthwhile comparison. Entering the mind and the world of a tortured and talented person is not going to be entertaining, but it is a different, difficult detour to a road to nowhere. It is a vast, expansive and mostly empty space, an unknowable territory and it smells like spiritual suicide.

Baron Ronan Doyle The third installation of Gus Van Sant's thematic "Death trilogy", Last Days was a film I came to with very high hopes. Having the day before seen both Paranoid Park and Elephant, two extremely fine films, I expected only the best from the experimental director.Following troubled rock musician Blake through his titular time period, Last Days takes heavy inspiration from Kurt Cobain. Much like Elephant's inspiration, this will instantly reveal the conclusion of the film to just about anyone who encounters any coverage prior to viewing.Almost certainly the most well known of the true stories which gave rise to this trilogy, the suicide of Kurt Cobain is yet another subject which Van Sant has come under controversy for electing to represent. It is important to note, however, that the heavy ties to Cobain do not exclusively mean that he and Blake are one and the same, more that this is Van Sant's interpretation of a period he perceives as entirely immune to objective interpretation. As we have seen develop as perhaps the most important aspect of this trilogy, Van Sant once more offers us poetic visuals, further developing his personal cinematic style, one which is deeply independent and highly unique for so (at least sometimes) mainstream an American director. Probably the best way in which I can summarise my thoughts on Last Days is this: where Elephant was Van Sant identifying everything that was truly great about Gerry—the cinematography, the tension, the ability to show rather than to tell—and adding to this the societal message, the depth, and the emotional involvement which that film lacked, Last Days is the opposite. With Last Days, Van Sant takes the indulgent tracking shots and the apparent sagacity which lacks in genuine meaning and runs amok with it. While Gerry was a deeply flawed film, misusing its dazzlingly beautiful visuals by offering nothing beneath to support them, Last Days is simply empty, a pseudo-artistic "exploration" of a poorly structured character. Even the visual splendour is somewhat reduced, giving hopefuls like me even less to cling to as we hope for something more. Pitt wanders about, occasionally stopping to don a dress or make macaroni, mumbling intensely to himself in an utterly incomprehensible manner. After perhaps half an hour, I started to wonder what was happening. How, after the majesty of Elephant, had Van Sant gone so wrong? Alas, it just carried on in the very same way, Pitt wandering around his nonlinear narrative, me staring in puzzlement at the screen and wondering why this character was so thinly sketched. The characterisation is frankly non-existent, a serious problem given that this is—or at least is supposed to be—a character drama. I have a great deal of patience for slow films, and an unbalanced adoration for recondite ones, but this simply has no method to its madness, nothing whatsoever to say, and no apparent justification for existing. There is one scene, in which Blake loops his instruments and jams with himself, which does something to assuage this onslaught of disappointment. The long take as the camera ever so slowly zooms out films all of this through a window, the vast stone walls a barrier between us and this character, his dark playing and lugubrious wails a brief glimpse into the tortured soul that lies beneath. The scene itself is nothing shot of mesmeric, but it is essentially the only thing of any merit in the film. It's a deep shame that such a wonderful piece of cinema should be featured in so poorly misjudged a mess of a film.Astoundingly disappointing as a follow-up to Elephant, Last Days follows on the nonsensical navel-gazing of Gerry by multiplying it, and by giving us fewer pretty pictures to look at to distract us from the unfortunate lack of meaning. Were it not for the fact that I've already seen and loved Paranoid Park, his feature to follow this, it would be a long time before I felt ready to trust in Gus Van Sant again.