Atlanta Film Festival 2009

Atlanta Film Festival 365

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The Last Lullaby
Jeffrey Goodman 2008
Categories: American Showcase, Relationships
Average Rating:
Rated 4.017108257071341/5 Stars
My Rating:
Run time: 93 min. | USA | Language: English | color
Price (a mesmerizing performance by Tom Sizemore) is a former hitman struggling to cope with retirement. He left the assassination business to live the "easy life," but retirement arrived with its own agenda. It was not the instant peace and calm that Price expected but rather emptiness, boredom, and, worst of all, restlessness. When circumstances present him with an opportunity for one last job, the million dollar price tag is too much to resist. That is until he learns his newest target is Sarah, a woman he shares an immediate kinship with, and two mysterious souls form a special bond as each tries to mend the wounds of their past.. The Last Lullaby plummets Price back into his old life and forces him into a corner from which he may never escape. Price's old ways no longer work for him when his heart opens, and he finds life beyond his profession. The tension finally comes to a head as Price must decide to close himself off again or open himself up to a world beyond his control.
Screenings
time venue calendar tickets
12:30 PM     Sun, Apr 19 Landmark Midtown #4 + add to cal buy tickets
4:35 PM     Mon, Apr 20 Landmark Midtown #6 + add to cal buy tickets
About the film
Cast & Crew
director
Jeffrey Goodman
writer
Max Allan Collins
Peter Biegen
 
Cast
Sasha Alexander
Tom Sizemore
producer
David Koplan
composer
Ben Lovett
cinematographer
Richard Rutkowski
Audience Buzz
Rated 4.017108257071341/5 Stars
4.0 | 18
views 664 people viewed this page
adds 48 people added it to their calendar (find out who)
Featured Review
Notice! The featured review is chosen at random and contributed by an audience member. Click the reviews tab above to read all the reviews for this film, or register to write your own review. Close
Rated 3.0/5 Stars
terrij
9:56 AM
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A great story with a star-studded cast.
From the blog
1931: La chienne (Jean Renoir)


1931: La chienne (Jean Renoir)

I hate to admit it, but the first time I saw this I was in my favorite theater in Paris (Le Grand Action), and I fell asleep.  I'm sure it was during one of my "three or four films in a day" binges, and I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.  Anyway, I think I finally saw it for the first time in its entirety during the Fall of 1996, and it's haunted me ever since.  



As I mentioned in my 1930 post, there are great similarities between this film and Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel.  I'm sure it's even quite possible that von Sternberg influenced Renoir.  But, the Renoir, and Michel Simon's descent (SPOILER!) into absolute depravity, have always felt more rooted in reality (more human, more true) than Jannings' performance.   


I once heard the great French director, Claude Chabrol, say that the ideal filmmaker would consist of Renoir's vitality and Fritz Lang's rigor.  I'm not sure I don't agree.  I've always thought it interesting that Lang only re-made two films in his career and both were originally directed by Jean Renoir (Human Desire was a retread of Renoir's La bete humaine and Scarlet Street of La chienne).  


Like The Blue Angel, La chienne is a grand tragedy, and I feel every inch of Michel Simon's hope and then despair.  There's a naturalism in Renoir's approach to the film that has always greatly appealed to me. But, more than anything, it's the profoundness of Simon's journey that will always stay with me.  


Other contenders for 1931: There are some things I still need to see from this year, most notably: James Whale's Frankenstein, Rene Clair's A nous la liberte, and Josef von Sternberg's Dishonored.  I also have never seen Josef von Sternberg's An American Tragedy, DW Griffith's final film The Struggle, GW Pabst's The Threepenny Opera, Lewis Milestone's The Front Page, Dziga Vertov's Enthusiasm, Rene Clair's Le million, and Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde.  I am a fan of both The Champ and The Public Enemy, but this is a highly competitive year for me and neither of these films could really compete for my top choice.  Then there is M, probably my favorite opening in the history of film, and a film for which I have absolute admiration and respect.  But, emotionally I respond more strongly to my top pick and my #1 runner-up, City Lights. This is my favorite Chaplin, and one of my favorite films of all time, but I finally gave the slight edge to the Renoir as Michel Simon's journey in the film still haunts me to this day.
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