Takin’ Care of Business

What would you do if you knew the end of days was nigh? Maybe you’d relish in your memories of the good old times, or revel in the anarchy going on around you. . . perhaps you’d party the night away, then go out in a blaze of suicidal glory just to spite a foregone conclusion? ? ? These are some of the topics covered in the Canadian understated-apocalyptic Indie dramedy Last Night (1998).

Written, directed and starred in by Don McKellar (his first feature film; also the scribe of the fascinating picture The Red Violin), he litters Canada’s largest city, Toronto, with not only trash (and a few remaining stragglers), but also a simple melancholic poignancy, a dry and awkward humour that covers up the anguish that the ‘New Year’s Eve-like countdown to the end’ brings with it. McKellar’s take on the “2000, Seen By” project (which had filmmakers looking at the approaching excitement and fears of the Millennium), had him making the wise choice of depicting 2000 as the end of the world (rather than a current fad that would have it feeling passé almost immediately after the fact).

Fusing an ensemble cast, the story holds within it a unique cosmic humour, a serendipitous fate, when, you would think, a failing Mother Nature would frown upon such things. Characters criss-cross in intriguing ways, intervening in each other’s lives in unexpected fashion.

Patrick Wheeler (Don McKellar) is a lugubrious man, a slightly depressed individual whose only want is to spend his final day on Earth alone. . . yet, like a good son, he does his duty, arriving (late) to his parents’ (played by Roberta Maxwell and Robin Gammell) Christmas party (it is not, in any way, the most wonderful time of year) – this is their theory on how to combat the gloom and its impending doom. Though Patrick is unwilling to truly play along with the ruse, his sister, Jenny (Sarah Polley), is fine with everything, for her beau, who had left her, returned immediately upon the finite news.

Finally allowed to return home to his fortress of solitude, fate throws another hitch in his wheel, as Sandra (Sandra Oh) is sitting on his front stoop. . . a desperate young woman trying to make it across town to her husband (of two months – named Duncan). Her car having been destroyed by vandals, she takes advantage of the agreeable Canadian, making her way into his apartment in hopes of reaching her man by phone – something easier said than done, as you might imagine.

A still in which Craig Zwiller (Callum Keith Rennie) chats with his lifelong friend, Patrick Wheeler (Don McKellar)

Other storylines find a very businesslike gas company boss, the above Duncan (David Cronenberg – yes, the iconic Canadian filmmaker), dutifully phoning each and every one of his clients to thank them (also reassuring them that their gas will stay on for as long as possible), his forlorn employee, Donna (Tracy Wright), deferential in her steadfast loyalty as she keeps things running; while Craig Zwiller (Callum Keith Rennie) has decided to cross off every sexual fantasy he has ever had – women of different races, his elementary French teacher (Geneviève Bujold), sex with a virgin. . . as you might imagine, quite the extensive list; finally, an eccentric, Menzies (Michael McMurtry), is putting on his own piano recital – something he has been dreaming of for years.

Dealing with a plethora of topics and emotions (think, in no particular order: memory, anarchy, partying, spontaneous decisions, duty, suicide, loneliness, sorrow, regret, joy, kindness, our deepest sexual fantasies), much like in every era of the annals of history, you have people going with the crowd, others, unwilling to compromise, some finding solace in the arms of another, on the other side of the spectrum, lone wolves. It is this dynamic pastiche that makes Last Night such a fascinating study, deeply developed ‘human’ characters that sweat realism, their innermost fears, bravery and desires coming to a head in the most original, natural, yet somehow unexpected ways – a frank honestness to the piece that finds surprising decisions being made in the split of a second – reversing a lifelong credo. . . everything planned up to that point, or perhaps not.

McKellar’s narrative also exudes a wonderfully dry humour. . . a pupil attempting to speak French to his teacher (a duty unwilling to dissipate in the waning hours); a halfhearted exclamation: “really, well that’s really prestigious, uh, we all knew you had it in you” to a former classmate who is putting on his own recital; the semantics of quizzing a virgin on her virgin-ness in the final hours; an unwillingness to lend a car that would break up a perfect collection when it no longer matters (if it ever did); a mother not allowing her daughter to get a piercing, or a deejay playing the greatest songs of all-time as the countdown to midnight continues (only flaw, he is simply choosing the tunes that he likes). . . sharp touches from a first time filmmaker.

Carefully woven, this Toronto, which is in constant daylight, is simply effective, some trash and mostly empty streets bringing to mind the eerie zombie-filled London of 28 Days Later, while its premise will immediately connect some to Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, this a less commercial, and quite different earlier take on a similar idea.

David Cronenberg’s shadowy silhouette – part of the very Cronenbergian ending of his character, Duncan

Last Night is the type of motion picture that will stick with you, an intricately calculated bittersweet feature that brings with it both the expected and unexpected. With stellar direction, solid performances, and thought-provoking story (helping it win awards at the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals, as well as the Genie Awards – for Picture, Direction and Sandra Oh), there is a reason it has made lists of ‘underseen apocalypse films’ and ‘greatest Canadian films’. It also boasts a truly Cronenbergian ending for the filmmaker (a brilliant use of shadow, light, dialogue, and the master’s own filmography to build a memorable sequence). Also, for music lovers, you will find many intriguing references (Randy Bachman holding the largest guitar jam as six hundred play “Takin’ Care Of Business”), while Pete Seeger’s “Guantanamera” plays an important part in the tale. So, to see a very different take on an apocalypse movie, explore Last Night, it is no flash in the pan.