Strange, smooth 'Night' amazes

It is a clever trick of writer/director/actor Don McKellar to trick us into thinking that "Last Night" is a somber film by having his first scene look so funeral, because, in the end, his film is one of the most up-beat apocalypse films ever created (that's oxymoronic).

But this film is anything other than what we might expect. As the film opens, we find ourselves six hours away from the end of the world. This is not a violent, hellfire-and-brimstone kind of finale. In fact we are never told how or why exactly it is happening - just simply that everybody knows the end is nigh and they all have had time to prepare for it.

Courtesy of Lions Gate Films Don McKellar and Sandra Oh make fireworks before the end of the world.

Each in his or her own way gets ready for the end by doing his or her own special preparations. One man decides to fulfill each and every sexual desire he has ever had. Another couple decide that they do not want the powers that be to take their lives, so they end it themselves just before the big one comes.

McKellar is a Canadian and proud of it. This might seem unimportant, but there is something in "Last Night" that is definitely not American. Perhaps its a bit of what can only be called "Toronto camp," which makes us feel both sheltered by the quaint environment but definitely still in a metropolis. Perhaps it's just that McKellar casts the best and brightest in Canadian cinematic talent, Sarah Polley, Sandra Oh and David Cronenberg.

McKellar, whose career until this point includes several stellar writing credits ("Thirty-two Short Films About Glenn Gould" and "The Red Violin") and a few film shorts, proves himself a formidable budding talent. His idea is crisp and new - not to mention especially wry and simple. His aesthetic touch is evident in all shots as a mix of 1970s kitsch with ultra-mod Canadian cosmopolitan. Everything has a certain vacant quality, but in the middle of a bustling city.

The acting, even in the "small" roles is tight. Sarah Polley, as usual, is endlessly convincing, and Cronenberg adds that strange, foreboding touch that characterizes so many of his films.

"Last Night" is one of the best films of the year, but in the end, that does not matter much, as none of us will be here soon to talk about it.

12-10-99