LAST DAYS

LAST DAYS

(A.k.a. LOS ULTIMOS DIAS)

Barcelona, 2013. Computer programmer Marc (Quim Gutierrez) is beleaguered at work by Human Resources terrier Enrique (Jose Coronado), who is nicknamed "The Terminator" due to his ruthless efficiency at sacking people.

During a tense meeting, he gives Marc a last chance to deliver a program within the month. Marc knows the job is virtually impossible, and goes home to share his worries with beautiful girlfriend Julia (Marta Etura). The last thing she needs is for him to lose his job, as she's desperate to start a family.

Fast-forward three months, and there is a very different situation occurring: the world has succumbed to a mysterious epidemic which makes people terrified of the outside world - so much so that to step into the open air can cause folk to literally die of fright. Hence, people have been trapped for all that time indoors. Marc, in particular, is trapped within his office walls.

But he's desperate to reach Julia. However, his only means of travel is indoor - which means a lot of climbing through crawlspaces, wading through sewers and negotiations of miles of subway tunnels. In order to find his way to Julia, he's going to need a GPS device. His 'phone had one installed but, alas, all mobile telephone networks are now down.

When Marc spies Enrique pilfering a GPS system from another division of the office, he takes him into an office and barters with him: if Enrique helps him find his way to Julia, Marc will furnish him with other tools of survival (torches etc). Enrique reluctantly agrees to help.

And so, this ill-fitting pair move into subterranea where the world they find there is dark, littered with remnants of old lives and populated by people who no longer have a sense of order in their daily routine. Needless to say, not everyone is friendly: the pair are swiftly mugged, and forced to give chase in order to save their precious GPS.

Having eventually retrieved the object of their obsession, Marc and Enrique bond a little better as they forge ahead towards where the former believes Julia to be. In the meantime, flashbacks clue us in on how Marc bore witness to the beginnings of the plague - his colleague Rovira (Pere Ventura) dying when frog-marched off the work premises by security guards following his dismissal at the hands of Enrique; the news reports of falling volcano ash spreading across Europe; his agoraphobic neighbour who hadn't left his apartment in months, and so on.

Can Marc traverse the underbelly of a lawless Barcelona and safely find his love, Julia? And if he does ... what next for them and Enrique?

LAST DAYS certainly looks the business. A glacial colour palette conspires with tight composition within wide-lensed filming to convey a keen sense of claustrophobia, while the very occasional exterior shots offer subtle glimpses of special effects that do impress. Reportedly shot on a budget of 5 million Euros, this is a particularly stylish and slick journey into post-Apocalyptic dystopia.

Performances are generally good, with the two leads obviously taking the crowns in this department. However, though not seen as much during the film, Etura's casual warmth and familiar smile are enough to ensure she registers the deepest. It's good to have a character, however remote from the centre of the action, that isn't all angst and beard.

The non-linear approach to the storytelling isn't too damaging, although it must be noted that the flashbacks were more involving that the present-tense scenes. There are inevitably moments of melancholy (Marc stumbling across one of Julia's homemade toys, for example, and then a scan of the baby he didn't realise she was carrying) but the strongest emotions - be them love, fear, anger - come across during the pre-epidemic footage.

LAST DAYS is written and directed by siblings David and Alex Castor. They gave us the credible CARRIERS in 2009 - another viral-related genre flick. This latest effort is definitely bigger in scope and more polished in its delivery. But is it as urgent in its delivery? There is a certain restraint to proceedings which is either laudable or frustrating, depending on your viewpoint. Do things every truly get going?

I mean, the film is enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing throughout. But there's rarely anything to raise it above the level of "decent". The problem with this being, the Castors have an approach which suggests you're watching something either profound, or riveting, or both. In truth, despite its technical competence and generally agreeable finish, LAST DAYS is neither.

That said, it intrigued me sufficiently to keep me hooked to find out whether Marc found Julia (I'm not telling), and has some good set-piece scenes throughout (only one towards the end, which resembles MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, was cack).

Metrodome are distributing this film on DVD in the UK. They provided a DVD-R screener for review. Consequently, there are no menus or bonus features to comment upon here.

The picture quality, if indeed indicative of what to expect from their retail disc, is okay. Interestingly, the presentation opens with the Warner Bros logo. From there, we get the uncut film in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The image is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.

Colours are bright and vivid when called upon (not often), clarity is satisfying and filmic. Blacks remain stable throughout. A slight softness may be due to the fact that is a DVD-R.

Spanish audio is presented in a perfectly serviceable 2.0 mix. English subtitles were burned-in on this test disc.

LAST DAYS is a good little film, shot on a not-so-little budget. It will probably serve as another rung up the ladder for the Castor brothers, enabling their next film to be shot on a bigger canvas. But whether it will thrill genre audiences in the meantime, I'm not certain. It's good, but not great.

By Stuart Willis


 
Released by Metrodome Distribution
Region 2
Rated 18
Extras :
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