Review: Last Resort (2001)

This is a Resurfaced review written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

Last Resort

Rating

Director

Pawel Pawlikowski

Screenplay

Rowan Joffe, Pawel Pawlikowski

Length

1h 13m

Starring

Dina Korzun, Paddy Considine, Artiom Strelnikov, Lindsay Honey, Perry Benson, Katie Drinkwater, Dave Bean, Adrian Scarborough, David Auker, Bruce Byron

MPAA Rating

Not Rated

Review

An unfortunate mistake leaves a mother and her child trapped in a London immigrant concentration camp. “Last Resort” is a decently acted, interesting film from a growing line of experimental films from Shooting Gallery Productions.

The film opens on Tanya (Dina Korzun), a young Russian mother who has come with her son Artyom (Artyom Strelnikov) to London to meet her fiancé. Stood up at the airport, Tanya is forced to seek political asylum in order to attempt to contact her mysterious betrothed. The two are forced to shack up in a run-down apartment building with all the trappings of impoverished life, but with one major exception. The area is like a concentration camp, keeping its residents from leaving through use of camera surveillance of armed guards.

Within the compound is a run-down amusement park where the arcade is the only remnant of a once-exciting location. One of the attendants, Alfie (Paddy Considine), falls in love with the young foreigner, but can’t bring himself to tell her.

“Last Resort” plays like a good independent film should. While the performances aren’t spectacular and the filmmaking is average, the film manages to convey a sense of desperation and camaraderie. The relationship between Alfie and Tanya is interesting, if not predictable and the prison-camp style setting only helps add to the effect. Korzun gives an endearing performance as the mother who nearly sacrifices everything, including her dignity, to make sure that she and her son can escape their prison. Considine plays well against the lead, but neglects to elicit pity when his character needs it to live. Strelnikov gives one of the better child performances in recent memory, topping Osment and others who have based their success on a few good performances.

The film techniques are very simple, preferring to tell the story in a style similar to “The Crying Game,” except without the surprise or the financial backing. Like Miramax was before becoming a semi-independent studio giant, Shooting Gallery has all the right stuff to emerge as a leader in the independent film market.

This film has jumped some of the hurdles necessary to be a breakout art house film. First of all, the script is simple, but tragic. Its story is developed well for the medium, but sometimes lacks the emotional power necessary to succeed.

“Last Resort” fits well into any big city theater, but won’t entertain, nor interest most escapist audiences. There’s too much reality in this surprisingly short film for many to handle. However, the film still remains a modestly entertaining and pseudo-emotionally feature.

Awards Prospects

Last Resort isn’t an award-winning kind of film, but with Shooting Gallery’s history of independent releases, it may be no long time before they start getting recognized outside of critics’ circles.