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Michael Pitt, Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Patrick Green, Nicole Vicius ... see more see more... , Ricky Jay , Ryan Orion , Harmony Korine , The Hermitt , Kim Gordon , Adam Friberg , Andy Friberg , Thadeus A. Thomas , Chip Marks , Bill Basch , Alice Lok Cahana , Renee Firestone , Tom Lantos , Irene Zisblatt

Filmmaker Gus Van Sant wrote and directed this meditation on stardom and its costs, inspired in part by the life and death of rock musician Kurt Cobain. Blake (Michael Pitt) is the leader of an influe... read more read more...ntial alternative rock band who has unexpectedly won a large degree of fame and fortune. Depressed and unsure of what to do with himself or his success, Blake wanders about the run-down mansion he calls home and the visits the woods nearby. While a handful of friends live with Blake, he prefers to avoid them, as they often seem more interested in money or help with their music than in his friendship; meanwhile, Blake is also confronted by a handful of fans, his agent, and a gentleman who sells advertising space in a telephone directory and has no idea who Blake is. As Blake goes through the motions of his day, he tries to decide what he should do next, and what might finally free him from his ennui. Shot and edited in the same languid, low-key manner as his films Elephant and Gerry, Last Days also stars Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Green, Ricky Jay, and Harmony Korine. Kim Gordon of the band Sonic Youth also appears in the film, while her husband and bandmate Thurston Moore was a consultant for the musical score; both were friends of Kurt Cobain and toured in tandem with Nirvana on several occasions. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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52% liked it

22,060 ratings

Critics

58% liked it

111 critics

R, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: Gus Van Sant

Release Date: May 13, 2005

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DVD Release Date: October 25, 2005

Stats: 1,618 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,618)

  • fb1664868775
    October 27, 2011
    fb1664868775
    Van Sant's meditation loosely based on the last days of Kurt Cobain is captivating though in the end there is not much there.
  • stevenecarrier
    May 28, 2011
    stevenecarrier
    Gus Van Sant's "Last Days" was bound to be be misunderstood from the get go. While the film is directly influenced by the death of Kurt Cobain, "Last Days" is a fictional story. It's also a film drenched in ennui, something that automatically turns off nearly 3/4 of viewers. Film... read mores like this are also destined to be commercial failures. Fortunately for viewers who are willing to trust in the picture and let it's spell take hold, "Last Days" is an effecting little film. Michael Pitt as Blake is very interesting here. The physical tolls his depression (and subsequent and mostly implied drug addiction) inflicts on him are uncanny. Pitt also understands that depression is unique to each individual and he does not go out of his way to help the audience understand Blake's actions. We are merely voyeurs in this house (just like his friends), we don't need to understand the 'why?' Van Sant understands this as well, and confidently guides us through this tour of depressions deadly effects- playing with the time frame, only showing us certain character interactions etc. "Last Days" is a film very few people will have the patience to embrace due to it's structure, tone and theme- three things that contemporary audiences rarely care about to begin with. But trust me, there is plenty of good here.
  • fb100002359227440
    May 7, 2011
    fb100002359227440
    Boring....Make the audience leave the room.
  • ythelastman89
    March 18, 2010
    ythelastman89
    The last entry in Gus Van Sant's Death Trilogy, this features a great parallel to the last days of Kurt Kobain and truly captures a human being. You spend over 90 minutes with a character and begin to really understand him. While there are large non-dialogue gaps, the imagery and... read more physical acting keeps you completely memorized. I think it's probably the smartest way to go about making a movie about a beloved Rock Star, instead of fabricating events and relationships it is done in a very realistic way. You can believe the characters and the setting.
  • blacksheepboy
    February 12, 2010
    blacksheepboy
    If Gus Van Sant's intention was to depict Kurt Cobain's last days as tedious and devoid of meaning as possible, his biggest presumption was to believe the viewers would all fall for this equally boring, self-indulgent hoax.
  • 76Majikat
    August 19, 2009
    76Majikat
    The appeal for this film is that, although it?s not based on the actual events of the last few days of Cobain?s life, it was at least inspired by them and therefore seemed an interesting topic to me.

    Here?s where it all goes horribly wrong. The DVD cover describes the film as... read more ?Brilliant? and ?A Modern Masterpiece?, strangely I can?t identify with either of these descriptions. Unlike (I?m sure) many, I was utterly bored by the whole film, the whole thing was a huge disappointment to me.

    I can?t quite work out how this was an award winning film, honestly I think I would have had more fun watching paint dry.

    I definitely feel like I?m missing something here!!!
  • ironclad1609
    October 26, 2008
    ironclad1609
    Ever wanted to watch paint dry on film? That's how this "movie" feels. We follow around this drugged up musician, who is reminiscent of the late Kurt Cobain, without being entirely accurate as far as his last days are concerned. So we follow him run through the forest, take a pis... read mores in a lake, play his guitar, walk through the house with a gun and see his moronic friends do similarly mundane things. In the end he finally shoots himself. That's all there is to it. Whatever the point of this was, it is boring, pretentious and not even remotely interesting. Maybe a documentary showing the real scenes would have been, but this was just pointless. In fact I was fast forwarding through several scenes of this. Unfair, I know. Just like the 90 minutes this "movie" stole from me. Gus Van Sant, go back to making real films, please.
  • cosmo313
    July 5, 2008
    cosmo313
    This is a tough one to sit through. This is basically a non-narrative, minimalist (plot, dialogue) piece about a burned out, lonely, and mentally isolated rock musician named Blake, and the last few days he spends alive before dying in a very ambiguous manner. The film is only ve... read morery loosely based upon/inspired by Kurt Cobain, and what his last few days very may have been like. The pacing of this film is extremely slow, and very deliberate, Having a slow pace makes the film seem far longer than 96 minutes and a chore to sit through, and while that is true, it is also a good thing. The audience is forced to sit through the wandering, dull, random and basically pointless activities like laying around, walking around, mumbling to oneself, and doing nothing really in particular. This is a tedious film that's not for everyone, but iit was urposefully made this way. It's an indie/arthouse film, not a Michael Bay blockbuster. It's hard to relate to Blake persobnality, but not his experience and the pain, loneliness, despairity he feels. I applaud Van Sant for being bold enough to make this kind of movie just for the sake of making it. For me, the best parts come from the technical end (directing, editing, acting, camera work and music). This is not a fun or pleasant experience, but it's one that should be experienced at least once.
  • mjgildea
    August 27, 2007
    mjgildea
    Watching this movie is like going on a date with a bipolar low-talker. Van Sant is either berating you with genius or showering you with bullshit. He pulls a lot of the same tricks he did with Elephant as far as events overlapping and seeing Asia Argento's bare ass (twice!) is al... read moreways a treat. I was very happy to see a movie with takes lasting longer than mere seconds, but whoever Van Sant's sound guy was should be kicked until they're dead. And Kim Gordon was a very nice surprise.
  • gator681
    September 1, 2006
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]Directed by Gus van Sant, "Last Days" is an agonizing, unintelligent, thoughtless, pointless movie about a rock star, Blake(Michael Pitt), a mumbling wreck, who is on the run from rehab(funny, I didn't notice any drugs) and returns to his chateau(which is a m... read moreain stop for solicitors) where people he may or may not know are living there.(Yes, I know the back story but that does not excuse the sloppiness.) Apparently, the movie wants to show the life of a musician when he is not playing for an audience, but I much prefer the onstage, public performances. Ricky Jay playing a private investigator steals the movie by being able to talk in complete sentences. [/font]

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
August 13, 2005
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A film about a junkie rock musician, played by Michael Pitt at his most narcissistic, doing nothing in particular for the better part of 97 minutes isn't my idea of either a good time or a serious end... Full Review

Carrie Rickey
August 12, 2005
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

While Last Days succeeds as a nature documentary, Van Sant fails to penetrate human nature. The result is a portrait without a face.

Terry Lawson
August 12, 2005
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Last Days will cast a poetic spell on some viewers, as it did this one, and will seem mind-sappingly boring to others.

Ty Burr
August 12, 2005
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Last Days is director Gus Van Sant's meditation on the death of Kurt Cobain, and an extraordinary meditation it is. Full Review

Peter Howell
August 12, 2005
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Last Days offers some insight into Cobain's final frame of mind, but balks at the gates of deeper truth. Full Review

Rick Groen
August 12, 2005
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

Gus Van Sant ventures into the valley of death steering by an idiosyncratic compass and forsaking the aid of a conventional cinematic map. Full Review

Tom Long
August 12, 2005
Tom Long, Detroit News

It's all terribly self-conscious and desperately arty and fairly bad.

Steve Murray
August 11, 2005
Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Shot in long, single takes, the movie willfully tests your patience. You wish it would hurry up. Yet when it ends, it haunts you for a few days. (Well, me anyway.) Full Review

Tom Maurstad
August 11, 2005
Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News

This movie, depending on what you do with it, can be boring, brilliant or both. Full Review

Bill Muller
August 11, 2005
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

If you're going to make a movie about Kurt Cobain, you might as well make a movie about Kurt Cobain. Full Review

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Last Days Trivia

  • Last Days was a film about a famous rock star, who was that rock star?   Answer »
  • What was the name on the movie which was SUPPOSEDLY about the final days of Kurt Cobains life? (the entire movie was nothing but a guy stumbling about and mumbling stuff you couldn't hear!.....probably the most boring load of bull ever shown on the big screen!!... an insult to Kurt C.!!!)  Answer »
  • Who played in these movies: - Last days of disco - Brokedown palace - Haunted - Click - underworld - Tiptoes - van helsing   Answer »
  • which one of these films was filmed within 21 days?  Answer »
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