Rating: 
Summary: Cocknies Croaking
Review: "Last Orders" is a reasonably simple plot: a guy dies, is cremated, and has his ashes scattered. Within that plot are enough twists to make your head spin. Michael Caine as Jack does a good job in a role that doesn't demand a huge emotional output. Caine delivers his usual subtle performance as he faces death and worries about leaving something to take care of his wife. Helen Mirren from Gosford Park as his wife Amy does her usually brilliant job of extracting tremendous depth, even with a meager framework from which to draw. The cockney accents were difficult for me, from the USA, to decipher. It was about 1/3 of the way through before I started picking up on them. In the meantime, there are so many flashbacks with the past characters played by different actors that it becomes hard to figure out who from the present is who in the past. Newcomer JJ Field has nice screen presence as Michael Caine's younger Jack. Kelly Reilly as the beautiful young Amy doesn't much resemble Helen Mirren other than hair color, but brought life and energy to the role. I appreciated the issues of having a mentally disabled daughter and how each parent dealt with it. Laura Morelli played June, now an adult, lost in her own world, emotionally disconnected and isolated. Bob Hoskins does a nice job of carrying a torch for Amy. His younger self is well played by Anatol Yusef who sets the brothel workers abuzz with the size of his endowments. David Hemmings, 40 years after "Blow Up" looks quite different with eyebrows wildly careening across his brow, looking like escapees from Hogwarts. As with one other reviewer, my wife who rented the flick walked out on it. Although it's not easy at first, it is rewarding to finally connect the dots on the picture, making a satisfying evening's entertainment. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Last Orders
Review: A marvelous movie, such as Last Orders, moves me to
write a review. The last time I felt so inclined was
after seeing The English Patient. As I have told any
one who will listen to me here in America, when it
comes to the human condition, no one captures the
essence of life quite as perfectly as the director
who shows the pathos and elan vital of the British
working class. Born and raised in Camberwell Green
for the first twenty years of my life, Last Orders
brought back many memories, Amy could have been my
mother, Ray, my Dad, Jack and Vic, my brothers,Lenny,
my uncle, Vince, a neighbor and June, a cousin. I found myself simultaneoursly, both laughing and
crying. Hearing certain cockney terms, triggered
memories, long forgotten. The manner in which the
story unfolds combining the present with the past
through a series of flashbacks keeps the viewer
fully engaged. If there was any fault
with the film it would be that perhaps here in
America, some of the dialogue would be lost to the
audience and certain terms misunderstood. However,
because the actors' are so adept projecting their
emotions, the thrust of the story must be felt by all
who see this treasure. This film is what
entertainment is about. It deserves an Oscar
nomination.
Rating:
Summary: Last Orders: Last Word in British Cinema
Review: Could anything be more delightful than realizing at the end of a film that you actually enjoyed it immensely when you were working SOOO hard to understand what was happening? Yes, the accents are difficult. Yes, the editing will make you think you've lost your mind. Just go with it, invest the time, then let it wash over you. Sterling performances by everyone, believable characters, a mystery you already know the answer to (or DO you?), emotional highs and lows...there's everything but a car chase (but a wonderful travelogue of SE England compensates) and if you've ever been to Britain (and why else are you watching this film anyway?) you'll appreciate the four- seasons-in-one-day climate, the traffic, the gloom, and the hope and glory. It's got blood and guts (Michael Caine is, after all, a butcher), patrimony games, infidelity, fidelity, great messages, and a few scenes that, although brief, mean you can't bring the kiddies (and, yippee, nobody else can, either!). Altogether a great cinematic experience in the tradition of close British drama. Not bad music either. Skip the food unless you're fond of pub food. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Viewing for a contemplative, rainy day afternoon
Review: Do you ever wonder how your death will affect spouse, children, and, especially, lifelong friends in the short term? This is a question explored by LAST ORDERS, which in common usage means the final drink requests before the closing of an English pub. Set in London and southeast England, the film opens with undertaker Vic (Tom Courtney) bringing the ashes of his good friend Jack (Michael Caine) to the local watering hole for a last pint with Jack's other lifelong friends, Ray (Bob Hoskins) and Lenny (David Hemmings), along with Vince (Ray Winstone), the son of Jack and Amy (Helen Mirren). Since Jack had expressed the wish to have his ashes scattered into the English Channel at the seaside city of Margate, the four men pile into a luxury Mercedes selected by Vince from his auto dealership as appropriate to the occasion, and set off for the coast. Amy has declined to come along. Rather, she spends the day visiting June (Laura Morelli), Jack and Amy's [handicapped] daughter, who's spent fifty years in an institution. June is so severely handicapped that she's never once recognized Amy as her mother, though the latter has visited once each week over the decades - alone. The film's Cockney English dialog is difficult to fully understand until one's ear becomes attuned. For me, this was about a third into the movie. Since much of the speaking during this time occurs over a pint, or in the Benz headed to Margate, there's not much action to give clues as to what's being discussed. (My wife gave up and left me to hang tough.) Indeed, if it wasn't for the flashbacks generated by the memories and conversations among Jack's survivors - some extending back to World War II and before - the film would be a tad dreary. The stellar cast of LAST ORDERS does a commendable job, along with the actors portraying the characters' younger selves, illustrating several truths surrounding death of advanced age: the old were young (or at least younger) once and full of life and passions; relationships of long standing are often not what they appear on the surface and can conceal deep currents; the lives of the survivors must necessarily go on. For these reasons, I liked this film in the balance, although the ordinariness of the plot is determined from the start by the middle class ordinariness of all the characters. I mean, the lives of Jack, Ray, Lenny, Vic and Amy are perhaps not far removed from the lives of most of that generation - perhaps yours, or that of the elderly folks next door. LAST ORDERS is nowhere near being a great film, but perhaps is a representation of real life that's worth viewing on a contemplative, rainy day afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: Last Orders
Review: During a trip to scatter the ashes of their friend four mates bring their scattered memories together to tell a story of friendship love life and loss. This film shows the pain and struggle of dealing with death and the simple joys and wonders of living life. At the movies end I had tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. The cast of characters was a wonderful show of talent on both the actors and the writers parts I was truly involved. This movie is at the top of my list.
Rating:
Summary: Last orders
Review: During a trip to scatter the ashes of their friend four mates bring their scattered memories together to tell a story of friendship, love, life, and loss. This film shows the pain and struggle of dealing with death and the simple joys and wonders of living life. At the movies end I had tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. The cast of characters was a wonderful show of talent on both the actors and the writers parts, I was truly involved. This movie is at the top of my list.
Rating:
Summary: Left Speechless...
Review: I saw Last Orders at the Portland International Film Festival, and I'm so glad I did. I would be kicking myself forever if I didn't get a chance to see this movie. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone. This was far and away one of the most moving, comical, down to earth movies I've ever seen. Each character is so interesting. Each plot twist is so engaging. It's humorous, shocking, depressing, and sentimental all wrapped into one. If you like dramas, this is a movie for you! If you like comedy, this is a movie for you, too! If you like watching British men drinking beer, then you'll be in heaven! I can't think of anything else to say about this movie except that I departed from the theater in silence. The movie left me speechless. Go see it!
Rating:
Summary: British, all-male version of "The Joy Luck Club"
Review: I've been waiting for this movie to open since its world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, and I was not disappointed. Based on Graham Swift's Booker Prize-winning novel, the story is somewhat predictable, but engaging and touching, and it had me from the very beginning to the poignant and emotional (but not melodramatic) conclusion. Imagine the British, all-male version of "The Joy Luck Club", and you'll get a vague idea. I think Fred Schepisi tried too hard to cram everything from the book into the movie though, and much of the times the story moves along too swiftly. The movie cuts back and forth between the present and flashbacks so often that individual stories don't really have the time to develop, and sometimes I felt like I was watching a very long movie trailer. The cast is absolutely superb. As Roger Ebert put it, it's got all the great British actors who are not in "Gosford Park" (Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, David Hemmings and Bob Hoskins), and one who is (Helen Mirren). Of course, it's always a thrill to see Ray Winstone on the big screen, especially if he's not playing a wife-beater.
Rating:
Summary: Bringing Back Jack
Review: Imbued with death and history is director Fred Schepisi's LAST ORDERS. Loaded with great actors, and with a script sensitive to nuances, the evenly paced drama moves you to tears with its relentless totality, its ability to grasp the multi- faceted lives of its fated mortals. Four common men of modest means and a rather uncommon woman played by the well-known Helen Mirren are united in the departure from life of their dear friend Jack Dodds.
Jack's already dead in the first frame. His life is to be revealed in a series of steady flashbacks as the four men closest to him wrestle with the issues his death has presented. Though the use of flashbacks to reveal the story is conventional, the results are often extraordinary.. Though everything appears quite smooth and orderly on the surface, it's quite a tangled set of affairs that Jack has left behind him, and Jack's "last orders" (what to do with his remains after his death) make things difficult for his wife (Helen Mirren) and pals.
Jack wants his ashes taken to Margate and scattered at sea.
"Why Margate?"people want to know.
Margate's very much like the English version of New Jersey's Margate by the Sea, a formerly honky-tonk tourist town, now enjoying a renewal of sorts, but still bearing the earmarks of garish amusements and a boardwalk. Most importantly, Margate is for Jack and the others a repository and place of memories. Margate is that dream unattained, that unending dream of youth, of forever young. The film makes no secret about its sadness, its obvious morbidity.
Jack's pals are forever quipping about it in a script loaded with precise, often cruel jibes, as they gulp "pints" at home and across the English countryside on their way to Margate. You notice right away that Lennie (David Hemmings) is a little tough on the driver of the Mercedes Benz taking them to the interment spot, the youngest man among them, and of a different generation. That's Jack's "son" Vince driving, and the accusatory guilt laid at his feet is because he was the missing figure in the Dodd and Son vision the deceased had of their future. English boys were supposed to follow their dads into business, as another of Jack's pub patron buddies did. Jack was fortunate to have funeral home director Tucker as one of his best friends. Tucker and Sons were together in the eternity business, and that's the way things were supposed to be. Vincent went his own way in business, and appears at first to be a rough, nearly gangsterish character who bears little sentiment for his departed "dad". We find out why later, just as we find out that other aspects of Jack's life are not what they seem on the surface.
Emotion comes too easily in many films, often without justification or subtlety. Lots of films are simplified for easy access and so are the feelings of the characters. This is the rare film which deals with human sentiment in a wide ranging fullness, in its conflict and complexity. There is weeping, but none of the maudlin tears we love to shed and quickly forget as we march on to our next social debacle. These characters carry with them a strength alongside a weariness, a joie de vivre next door to an agony, a familiarity with bitterness and a touching sense of irony.
Then there's Jack's wife. If you want to know the deceased, really know the deceased, you've got to talk to the wife. She's a superb figure, quiet and gracefully heroic. She loves the cool arresting Jack she met in their impoverished youth. She loved the returning war hero Jack. She always loved Jack, and she even loves the Jack who banished their retarded child June to a state home all her life because Jack couldn't bear the fact he had a disabled child who couldn't reflect a "blink of recognition" to anyone, even to her mother who visited her every weekend for about forty years.
Finally we are at Margate, scattering Jack's ashes to the sea in a wind and driving rain. It's been an ordeal, all right, but that was Jack, a plucky fellow to begin with, fortunate to have such friends. The naive charm and sweetness of Jack is matched against the exhausted wits of his "son" and his "pals", as the pier at Margate is pounded by the wind and a stormy sea.
We love in others what we lack in ourselves, and we love them also because they forgive us our foolishness, our disfigurements. We love all who stand firm and hopeful with their eyes fixed upon the churning sea. Therefore, we love Jack. We love his wife; she's like a mirror reflecting back the best parts of ourselves. We love Jack's friends, and his tough stepson, Vince, because they have been hardened in the kiln and softened by what they have learned of human qualities. And we love June, with her imbecile smile and wayward eyes, who does not love us back.
Rating:
Summary: An absolute treasure
Review: It's about kind, happy people who love each other. What more could anyone possibly want in a film?
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