"Last Orders" is a buddy movie with the unusual angle of it being old buddies played by a rogue's gallery of Brit character actors --Tom Courtenay, Bob Hoskins, Michael Caine, and David Hemming, with Helen Mirren as a woman connecting with several of them and Ray Winstone holding his own as the younger generation.
I respect producer/book adapter/director Fred Schepisi's effort to tell the story through sentimental and knowing flashbacks as the old friends think back on their relationship with the friend whose ashes they are carrying based on his last wishes. But I did keep getting confused as to who was whom in the young vs. old (a woman next to me got so fed up she was talking to herself trying to figure them out). Hemming's younger self is his son, but I don't think he was on screen very much.
I also kept waiting for some explosive secret, but either I missed it (which was possible as I did lose the thread), or the secrets seemed revelatory but not shocking.
Still, it's a sweet and moving movie about dealing with aging, the past, death and going on. (originally written 3/11/2002)
I respect producer/book adapter/director Fred Schepisi's effort to tell the story through sentimental and knowing flashbacks as the old friends think back on their relationship with the friend whose ashes they are carrying based on his last wishes. But I did keep getting confused as to who was whom in the young vs. old (a woman next to me got so fed up she was talking to herself trying to figure them out). Hemming's younger self is his son, but I don't think he was on screen very much.
I also kept waiting for some explosive secret, but either I missed it (which was possible as I did lose the thread), or the secrets seemed revelatory but not shocking.
Still, it's a sweet and moving movie about dealing with aging, the past, death and going on. (originally written 3/11/2002)