(2003/DENMARK)
REVIEWED BY-STEVE GENIER DIRECTED BY-DAVID NOEL BOURKE CAST-GRY BAY, MORTEN VOGELIUS, JETTE PHIIPSEN, PETER OTTENSEN, NICOLAS SHERRY and DORTE ROMER. SOURCE- HERETIC FILMS (NTSC REGION 1 / 97 MINS /2005)
Nigel and Maria are a young married couple struggling to make ends meat upon their return to Copenhagen. Nigel, a closet drunk and Maria with her nasty heroin habit drive them into a state of neglectance, Another piece of Nigel’s dark past has followed him to there new life as well, his steep debts force him to seek work to pay them back. Upon a brief conversation with a casual friend at the local bar, Nigel is given a contact number for work. He calls and gets an appointment with a man called The President, a dark and seedy character that quickly take a liking to Nigel. Setting him up with his first job and paying him big bucks, The President entrusts him with getting things done. To ensure this, he also introduces Nigel to Tanya, one of his working women to show Nigel a good time.
The first job goes down bad, but because the The President likes Nigel, he decides to give him another chance. This time all goes well, and Nigel career begins as does his relationship with Tanya heats up. As time goes by, and Nigel grows further away from Maria, she starts to fall into her heroin induced abyss. Given certain indications, Maria give herself a pregnancy test, which in turns out to be positive. All the good in Nigel’s life is about to turn face upon his heated argument with Tanya, which turns to the violent side. Tanya beats Nigel into unconscious. Upon awakening, he finds Tanya dead, committing suicide.
She decides that this calls for her to clean up her act and to share the news with Nigel. Then one morning Maria feels it is the right moment to share her important news. While sitting at the table downing alcohol, he breaks the bottle on the floor and as he’s down cleaning it up, Maria tells him she’s pregnant. With swift quickness, Nigel jabs her neck with the jagged end of the bottle, killing her. Now Nigel is in a world of deep shit, one that he may never escape.
LAST EXIT is a dark look into the underbelly of Copenhagen’s night life, it’s illegal trades and shady transactions. Director David Bourke gives us a chance to safely enter this world and view it’s heartless and demeaning ways. The pace of this film is at times very frantic, giving the viewer the raw and surreal feel of a young couple’s struggle with day to day life. Not only that, but the struggles with their personal demons. Although not overly graphic in spinning his tale, this does not mean Bourke doesn’t resort to some shocking imagery to convey certain scenes. Everything from the squishing of an eyeball to the brutal mutilation of a human body, all in good taste for the viewer to get the just of what life really is like in LAST EXIT.
Although I wasn’t totally convinced with some of the acting, there were a few roles that really shined. One in particular was that of Morten Vogelius’ portrayal of Nigel. Raw and gritty, Vogelius’ dreary mannerisms bring out the full extend of Nigel’s desperation. His body language also attributes to Nigel’s hidden love for the booze, especially in the scene where he kills Maria with the jagged bottle. The other is Peter Ottensen as the shady President. Right from the get go,Ottensen’s screen presence casts this dark shadow. His sneaky and ruthless methods blend in with the overall feel with the whole storyline. Nigel’s debts, Maria’s heroin problem, The Presidents methods , and Tanya’s obsessive tendencies all coincide with a story that gives little hope for the viewer.
The smaller characters provide some great little moments in LAST EXIT, like the shady bar dweller Tobias and the fact of losing his eye to a work related accident. The nomad Jimmy who give Nigel advice, but makes him work of the right answers. And of course the friendly female bartender at the Scottish bar making a few moves on Nigel, but he never really bites.
Capping this dark and interesting tale is the very so catchy score throughout the film. Ranging from the very pop oriented to the rock influences here and there. Never stepping in the wrong way, the score helps the overall flow of the story with great importance. Also visually often very dark, pretty much reflecting the nightlife and the gloominess of the storyline. LAST EXIT often reminds me of Nicolas Winding Refn’s 1996 crime thriller PUSHER.
This upcoming DVD release from Heretic films gives us another solid reason why they are leading the way with exploring either foreign or American based independent films. I was surprised to hear that Heretic's Alex Afterman has mention it was after reading our review here of LAST EXIT that put the last nail in the coffin to pick up the distribution rights here in North America. It was certainly an honor to be apart of this release, even in a small roll. What a release it is too, decked out with tons of great extras and capped by a very solid feature presentation.
This Danish shot on digital film, is presented in it's natural full framed aspect ratio and is accompanied by digital English audio track. Both of which are super clean and highly clear. Though LAST EXIT boosts the fact it houses one of FHM magazine's 100 women in the world, super model/singer Gry Bay, it also contains a super hot pumping indie track throughout the film itself. Rounding off the audio, you also have the option of listening to director David Noel Bourke's commentary of the film. A commentary that is very insightful as to the making of the film, memories while shooting it as well as working with it's various actors.
The special features housed with the release are certainly not in shortage. From a behind the scenes featurette, deleted scenes, extended and alternate scenes as well as trailers. All of which give you a complete perspective of LAST EXIT on a whole. The one thing that was a pleasant surprise for me was even though David had notified me to let me know that this was a different edit from the screener he sent me early last year. Though I really enjoyed the first version of the film, this re-edit certainly makes sense and will better display the film for it's impending North American audience. So, if you really like foreign indie's with tons of great storyline, action as well as thrills, LAST EXIT is a great start and Heretic's disc boosts that up even more.
STORY/FILM-3/5 BITCH SLAPS PICTURE-4/5 BITCH SLAPS AUDIO-4/5 BITCH SLAPS EXTRAS-3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS OVERALL DVD-3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
For more information on LAST EXIT visit www.lastexitproductions.dk
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