Last Night

MOVIE #1,416 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 03.05.24 Last Night (1998) is a real “end of history” movie, quite literally a distillation of that idea/feeling, to what degree you believe in it. I didn’t find much of the humor — which I suppose you could describe as the flipside of what the Kids in the Hall were doing around the same time — connected with me at all in 2024. The best parts of this movie are in between scenes when the music swells and we just sit with the dread of this moment, often peppered with the chaotic ambiance of the looming apocalypse, which is scheduled at exactly midnight, as the apocalypse is surely wont to do. There are other little moments in this I really like (the interactions between Sandra Oh and writer-director Don McKellar in the lead are sweet). But there are bigger ones (like the sex friend) that I felt really didn’t work.

Still, there’s a good amount of heart here as well as intentions and that shines through (just like the sun which is set to crash into earth — you’d think it would be warmer, no?). McKellar as a filmmaker is part of the Toronto New Wave, a loose group of directors who came of age in the 80s and 90s (Atom Egoyan might be the most famous name on that list). I didn’t like this enough to dig further into the scene at the moment but I would recommend it.

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Last Night is a 1998 Canadian apocalyptic black comedy-drama film directed by Don McKellar and starring McKellar, Sandra Oh and Callum Keith Rennie. It was produced as part of the French film project 2000, Seen By.... McKellar wrote the screenplay about how ordinary people would react to an unstated imminent global catastrophic event. Set in Toronto, Ontario, the film was made and released when many were concerned about the Year 2000 problem. It was released on May 1, 1998.