The Very Last Day (2018) [Film Review]

The Very Last Day; or, Fatal Attraction

    You also wrote about your sister’s death, your grandfather’s disease, your best friend’s suicide. Should I go on? This is not inspiration, it’s called theft.

The Very Last Day is an indie Taiwanese drama from 2018 directed by Cédric Jouarie. The movie came to my notice, when the director contacted Asian Film Fans a month ago (you can read my interview with him here). Needless to say, what initially seemed to be low-key drama unexpectedly turned into a hardcore settling-the-score flick. This is my review of The Very Last Day.
Release Info

Directed by: Cédric Jouarie Starring: Wei-Yi Lin, Lawrence Ong, Heng-Yin Chou

Language: Mandarin Original Title: The Very Last Day Runtime: 122 min

 

Synopsis

Raymond (Lawrence Ong) is a prosperous fiction writer. On the surface, everything about his life seems perfect. The writer is wealthy and respected. He is also married and has a daughter (Meng-Hsueh Lee). However, Raymond’s relationship with his wife, Viola (Heng-Yin Chou), becomes increasingly tense. The wife accuses Raymond that he is stealing the experiences of other people and uses these as ideas for his books. Raymond finds consolation in a strange fan who introduced herself as Miss Melanie (Wei-Yi Lin). She suggests to Raymond that they should leave their problems behind and go on vacation to a remote village. The writer accepts the offer…

 

Memories That Remain

Director Cédric Jouarie stated that the production was based on his personal experiences. Indeed, The Very Last Day seems like a meta-story with a double twist that evokes such memorable motion pictures as Misery (1990), Audition (1999), and Hard Candy (2005). Nevertheless, I personally found certain scenes to resemble the style of the great Edward Yang. The action seems very slow in the first half of the film, but the speed picks up at the moment when the viewers’ expectations are subverted.

 

The Very Last Day is a hard viewing experience because the film focuses on a difficult topic. Nevertheless, its message in the age of MeToo movement is loud and clear. That is to say, no sexual predator should feel safe from punishment.

 

With regard to performances, all the actors clearly gave their best in front of a camera. The lead performers Wei-Yi Lin, Lawrence Ong, and Heng-Yin Chou were simply amazing in their roles. The director mentioned that they happened to be stage performers who had necessary stamina to endure up to six takes or even more. In addition, he explained the meaning behind the title which “expresses this idea that all it takes is one day, one moment, one event for your life to be changed forever.”

 

Of course, like any other work of fiction, this movie as well is open to interpretation. Nevertheless, I will not spoil the twists for you, but let’s just say that I viewed one of the characters as an entirely negative individual, in spite of all the ambiguities around this person.

 

Recommendations

If you have the time, then please check out The Very Last Day. It is highly recommended to anyone who wants to experience an unpredictable story with shocking moments. I wish that we could get more independent productions like this one.

Overall score: 9/10