The Last Minute [DVD] [2007]

The Last Minute is one of those truly rare motion pictures that deserves far wider recognition than it will ever get. How unfortunate. I'd never heard of the thing until recently stumbling across quite by accident. A virtual eye popping, roller coaster of a flick, it starts with a BANG and never lets its hooks out of you. Visually, The Last Minute is as impressive looking a picture as I've ever seen.

The DVD extras are (mostly) exceptional adding to the whole experience as few extras features ever do. As darkly hilarious as it is, this "Minute" also packs quite an emotional punch. Kudo's to Mr. Norrington who deserves greater recognition for this amazing film.

One caveat: Norrington wisely employs a terrific device by which we never know what our protagonist does to earn then lose his fame (director and star are on record as being at odds as to what Billy actually does). Were only that same thing had been employed for one scene: When Billy is told he doesn't want to know what's behind a certain door, we shouldn't find that out either. Personally, I laughed (in horror, but laughed) at this scene but I know others who were put off by the movie altogether because of these few seconds.

Every other aspect of the truly most bizarre nightclub "Prosthetic" is genius (as, actually is the moment in question, just too off-putting for most people). It is here where one of the film's most brilliant moments occurs: Percy "Sledge" breaking into the Sinatra classic "I've got you under my skin" while wreaking a gleeful malevolent stream of violence that is about as close to movie magic as we've ever seen.

Norrington has a cast that, quite simply, could not have been improved upon with Max Beesley giving a stand out performance as Billy - to watch the youthful energy of his clubby dance moves and the enthusiasm with which he embraces his burgeoning fame slip into confused despair, hopelessness and attempt at self redemption. Beesley has us routing for him even at his worst, for I think most of us can identify with Max's plight.

As the aforementioned Percy "Sledge" - Jason Isaacs is nothing short of terrifying, executing his violence with a Fred Astaire like grace and precision which is utterly disarming.

The Oliver Twist twist of the underground urchins with their modern day, more violent, Fagin (who doles out drug treats to the kiddies) is chillingly beautiful.

I also found the extended mad scene similar resonating strongly with Shakespeare's Lear - Max's meltdown/unhinging being so closely tied with what is happening in nature. Brilliant.

If "Minute" had been released theatrically stateside, I can't imagine it wouldn't do huge box office. There are audiences literally screaming for this type of originality. Hopefully, it's not too late to try. The seconds are ticking . . .

Seriously. See this movie. Or else!

The Last Minute looks simply fantastic and the editing is outstanding. If you liked the look of Blade (Stephen Norrington) then you will love this underground film but it is marred by some alternative-indie movie formulas that we have seen a million times before.
The film is mostly played out like an acid trip and is definitely a powerful vehicle for our lead actor - Max Beesley. The music is techno orientated for the most part and it certainly will appeal to new generation director movie fans. The film is part fantasy driven with lots of surrealism and bizarre elements. The premise is a simple one. A young man finds his mystery artwork hyped up to be the next big thing but eventually it all falls apart for him and he ends up homeless and on the needle. The film is fast and furious as our anti-hero parties down in London, meets a cut-throat talent agent, drug dealers, S&M discos and a yearning to explain the world to everybody now that he is such a great thing. In a split second it all falls down for him and he finds himself in gutter covered in puke, without any money and in need of a place to live. He ends up stealing, living in the underground with a group of renegade London kids under the control of a Fagan type character like out of Oliver Twist. It looks really great. Sadly as soon as he goes on the needle we start to hit Trainspotting territory and this is where the film fails. For all its originality it is a shame that the filmmakers had to delve into that formulaic, guy hooked on scag, needs to break out from his crap world and get a life, sort of deal. It would have been much better if it just stuck with the failed artist trying to break out of his current depression.
Again I can not understate how great this film looks and it does have Lynch appeal but sadly it is not the cult offering that it purported to be in the beginning. A great slice of indie film making but Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream do it much better.

Billy Byrne is a talented young artist on the verge of hitting the Big Time. Unfortunately, Billy makes the mistake of believing his own hype and when his debut creation tanks, he loses faith in himself as an artist. Desperately trying to recapture the magic touch, he begins a downward spiral into drug addiction and crime. Can Billy save himself or is he destined to be one of the broken people who inhabit this picture?

I'm not a fan of avant-garde anything, but I quite enjoyed the dark vision of this camera verity/music video-style movie. The cast is excellent with standout performances from Max Beesley as Billy, Jason Isaacs as Dave "Percy" Sledge, the singer/drug dealer, and Tom Bell as Grimshanks, the Fagin-like drug dealer/failed actor. The ickiest moments for me in this film were when Max is invited to Club Prosthesis, a kinky underground fetish club. The whole "medical procedure" theme made my skin crawl. The discovery of what was behind the closed door in the club was (frankly) funny and oddly charming by comparison. By far the best moments of the movie were the "musical interludes" by Percy Sledge, a psychotic killer, who alternates between homicidal rages and crooning like Frank Sinatra. It sounds bizarre, but the two "music video" moments actually blend in seamlessly to the whole movie.

The only drawback to this movie was a technical problem with the DVD itself. On the copy I had, the cursor tended to blend in so well with the background of several pages including the opening page that I had to guess as to its location. As a result, I doubt that I found all of the extra features on this DVD. As a side note, be sure to watch the movie all the way through the end credits as there are extra character scenes stuck in this last sequence.

While the overall tone of the movie is dark and gritty, the ending is uplifting and hopeful. "The Last Minute" is really a meditation on art, commercialism, and what it means to be an artist. I highly recommend this flick.

This is the most heart-wrenching film I've seen in years. A combination of dark humor and extreme trauma at it's best. Stephen Norrington has pulled Arthur Miller's ploy of ripping out your soul and sticking in his.

The story is fantastical; just watching it is like being shot through a blow-dart gun of fantasy, but the gun's real. Wonderfully manipulative direction, I can't compare this movie to any other because it would be just that: a comparison, and there is no point in comparing a unique film with another.

The writer manages to convey a message of the unreality of reality. His colors are brilliant, his music sharper than glass, and the sounds of this spooky little world actually have texture.

This man has really beat the living hell out his peers. His grasp of satire and story-telling is far more mature than it should be for his age. It's an overwhelming film and often difficult to watch; there is so much emotion happening. It's funny, it's sad, it's maddening, it's frustrating.

It's just a gorgeously decadent film and I wish we were allowed to cuss on these reviews because I cannot say enough how good this movie is. Buy this movie. Get the unrated version. Watch it a hundred times. Learn from it. Learn from him.

After being lobotomized by this beautifully horrible world that's been created, you'll at the very least be left with one thing: Stephen Norrington's un-paralled combination of stunning visuals and music as a technique of story-telling after there are no more words left to say.

I remember watching this movie in the living room and after it was over my dad said," your really scraping the bottom of the barrel". Oh, but he wouldn't understand. This movie was unique in all it's aspect and I loved it. You have scenes were you go into this club where people are doing kinky doctor operations and then you have a guy in a stylish black suite dancing and singing to Frank Sinatra. Who could not love that!! I guess you have to have a slightly different tilt on the world to respect this movie. If you liked this, I recommend Trainspotting.