HIS LAST REQUEST

HIS LAST REQUEST

(A.k.a. EL ULTIMO DESEO)

Opening in lush black and white, a "Nurse required" advertisement is torn from a pinboard by well-groomed female fingers. This leads us into attractive silent movie-type opening captions that introduce the cast members individually.

Genteel music plays throughout the ensuing mini-drama as old-fashioned intertitles substitute dialogue in Simon Birrel's stylish homage to the earliest days of genre cinema.

An ailing old man known only as Father (Jack Taylor) sits in his cluttered apartment going through masses of paperwork with his Lawyer (Ramon Rados). The father is warned that there are likely to be many claimants to his estate, such was his way with the ladies in his youth that he left a trail of unpaid alimony cases in his wake.

The father is unrepentant, and adamant that the sole beneficiary of his fortune will be the only child who has stayed and doted over him, his faithful Daughter (Carmen Vadillo).

As the father and lawyer muzzle through the endless documents, the daughter stays at dad's side, ensuring he keeps off the booze and brightening his day with the occasional peck on the cheek.

The calculations are put to one side when the doorbell rings. The daughter lets the Nurse (Iris Diaz) in, who has come in response to the earlier advertisement.

The lawyer leaves, allowing the remainder of this condensed potboiler to unfold as a three-way simmering of tensions. The father is delighted by the attractive nurse in her sultry tight clothing; the daughter is unimpressed and highly suspicious. But, upon the father's insistence, the nurse stays.

The following morning the nurse cares for the father in his bed. He shows her his hidden stash of vintage erotica then directs her to a chest beneath his bed. In it she finds kinky attire which he asks her to wear. "Maybe later", she grins.

But her reaction is more solemn when he whispers something into her ear - something the captions will only inform us is "his last request".

Undeterred, the old man continues to press the big-busted carer into obliging him, even offering her a wad of cash. The daughter catches the nurse cutting the money up, and leaves in disgust.

But later the daughter returns for her father's sake, and tensions come to a head as she resolves to work with the nurse. This allows the nurse to finally grant the father his final request, leading to a finale that makes good of the film's tagline "Be careful what you wish for" …

This 2005 oddity shows considerable promise from Birrel, both as a director and a writer (he had previously written the English dialogue for Franco's MARIE COOKIE AND THE KILLER TARANTULA).

The visuals are meticulous in their set-up and design, which in turn dictates a nod must be given in the direction of Zaida Jimenez's sterling art direction. A moody atmosphere is further evoked through deft use of sharply contrasting black and white imagery. Expert use of light and shade, along with inventive camera angles constantly suggests that something wicked is lurking in the shadows.

Paradoxically, Mark Sobieski's comparatively light and repetitive score lends at times a comedic tone, ultimately unsettling the viewer into never knowing just how this is meant to be taken.

The film plays on its silent movie leanings well, telling its story efficiently through its nuanced performances and mannered editing. The intertitles are used only when necessary, so don't worry about this turning into a readathon. It's testament to the cast that so much is conveyed through even the subtlest facial expressions.

Speaking of which, Birrel elicits strong performances from each character. Considering the obvious micro-budget, even a veteran like Taylor is more than game. Add to this the talented cinematographic skills of Pablo Baudet, and you're left with a film whose style and attention to detail will remain with you afterwards.

At 27 minutes long, HIS LAST REQUEST is arguably the perfect length. Its plot is too flimsy to support a feature-length offering. It's content is perhaps too tame (despite a lesbian coupling and a spot of scalpel violence) to hold the attention for much longer. Also, the "twist" is far too predictable to have kept audiences intrigued over the course of, say, 90 minutes. But with a short film, it's easier to overlook such matters.

By and large HIS LAST REQUEST is a carefully constructed and visually sumptuous film which suggest Birrel could be capable of moving on to bigger things. And how cool is a film that places Taylor in the lead role, includes a special thanks to Jose Ramon Larraz and includes a credit for "Vintage Underwear" provider?!

The film is presented in 16x9 enhanced 1.78:1 on this self-distributed DVD-R disc. Images are pin-sharp and well rendered, with great representation of black and white contrasts.

The 2.0 audio is clear and problem-free throughout, while there is a choice of watching the film with either English or Spanish captions.

Beyond the animated main menu page, extras include a meagre gallery of 9 stills (a couple of black and white grabs from the film; half a dozen colour behind-the-scenes photographs).

Elsewhere we get a 2-minute gallery of cast and crew members and "About the film" - essentially a single page weblink, that tells us how the film was shot in Madrid on DigiBeta in March of 2005.

An interesting meditation on how age destroys the body but not the spirit - a philosophy emphasised by the opening quote from a Bulgarian proverb: "I have not seen all that I wish to see, I have not done all that I wished to do, I will die with my eyes open" - HIS LAST REQUEST is a striking and extremely promising short film. It's strength lies not only in it's beautiful photography and considering performances, but also in it's ability to present the silent movie storytelling format as more than a mere gimmick.

Its weaknesses are it's thin premise and lack of sucker-punch denouement. But, with stronger material to support his vintage aesthetics and Franco sensibilities, I suspect Birrel could be a bright hope for the genre.

For more information, check out www.hislastrequest.com.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Silicon Artists
Region All - NTSC
Not Rated
Extras :
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