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Review by Simon Bell |
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FOUR old geezers in tweed meet for a pint and a large scotch before setting
off to Margate with an urn full of ashes. Not the most electrifying of premises.
And yet to miss 'Last Orders' would be to forgo a genuine experience of life-affirming
dimension.
Borne out of Graham Swift's Booker Prize-winning novel about a small clique
of men honouring their friend's strange dying wish, the film opens in the
Coach & Horses with the associates reluctantly raising a final glass to
lifelong companion Jack. Bracing themselves for their car journey to the Kent
coast, the mood is quieter than that of the many boisterous, beer-fuelled
scenes of yesteryear.
What unfolds in the following 100 celluloid minutes is a mystery road trip/pub
crawl, the goal of which is to scatter Jack's ashes into the sea. But why
did he request such a final resting place? Why did his wife Amy decide to
not take the trip? And will the tensions between the comrades finally reach
breaking point now that the Kingpin is dead? All is revealed in one final
stunning scene played against a rain-lashed and wind-whipped backdrop of dowdy
amusement arcades.
From British ex-pat Fred Schepisi (the eclectic director of "Six Degrees
of Separation", "Roxanne" and "A Cry in the Dark"),
"Last Orders" boasts some of the best of two or, maybe, three generations
of UK talent: Michael Caine as local butcher Jack; Bob Hoskins as best buddy
Raysie; Helen Mirren as long-suffering wife Amy; and David Hemmings, Tom Courtenay
and Ray Winstone as the remaining cronies… Not to mention the upcoming
ingenuity in the form of JJ Feild (young Caine), Anatol Yusef (young Hoskins)
and Kelly Reilly (young Mirren).
The wealth of acting prowess is at first a little overwhelming for such a
small story, contained as it is within the setting of a Bermondsey pub, the
A2 and Margate Pier.
But by the end, not a single performance has hit a false note and the film
has achieved all it set out to do: To engage both the heart and mind in a
moving tribute to friendship, life in death and the working class.
