Gus Van Sant's film Last Days (2005) recently reached DVD where I am. I would have seen it at the cinema, but there are limits to how many good films can be shown in Brisbane. The film continues the traditions of what one might call the 'Loneliness' genre, along with the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969), Taxi Driver (1976), Broken Flowers (2005), Lost In Translation (2003), The 400 Blows (1959), Mad Max (1979) or even Amelie (2001), stories about the need for human contact and journeys that the protagonists must take alone.
The loneliness genre concerns itself with a single protagonist and their attempts to make meaning from the bizarre reality around them. People will often approach the protagonist on their journey, and sometimes those people will offer an escape from their despair (as in Taxi Driver and Amelie), or their coldness will push them further away (as in The 400 Blows or Broken Flowers).
Last Days opens with Blake in the wilderness by himself. He builds a fire and takes a swim before finally heading back to the house early in the morning. Perhaps a metaphor for the evolution of civilization. This is going to be the story of a man's pursuit of his natural self.
In line with Elephant (2003), Gus Van Sant continues to explore the relationship between people in an alienating environment. He returns to his technique of emphasizing simultaneous action by showing separate scenes with auditory and visual cues. This places emphasis on the relationships between singular individuals rather than the relationships between individuals in their communities.
Of particular note in the film is the way language is used. Relationships between people are facilitated by language, and the pack is inclined to listen to music for the words. Blake listens to music for the rhythm and it is from that rhythm that we see the emergence of words.
This is in line with the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, in that language allows for civilization and that it does not make men better because it breeds discontentment. Notice how all the other people in the film are thrill-seekers, while Blake is able to put up with the world on a day-to-day basis. Language seeks to imprison him in the chaotic whims of human nature.
This raises a question about whether music is more fundamental to our nature than language. I was recently listening to an interesting podcast of In Our Time concerning Mathematics and Music. What stood out was the way that both music and mathematics are concerned with the pursuit of finding patterns. What's more, consciousness and biology tend to follow patterns that repeat and vary on and on. One can see behavioural psychology as explaining patterns of behaviour, but we must remember that cognitive psychology (which emphasizes language and mental relationships) tends to complement our model of the human mind.
Article comments
1 - Guppusmaximus
The real difference between "Lost in Translation","Mad Max" and "Last Days" is that the first two movies are good and "Last Days" completely sucked! (just my opinion)