Artist and writer Stanley Schtinter presents an alternative film history, focusing on the final films various public figures watched just before their deaths. Last Movies begins with Franz Kafka watching Chaplin’s The Kid and ends with an enraged Boris Vian dying during the premiere of a film adaptation of his work. In between, a president, a murderer, a singer, a director, and an actress are just some of those who make an appearance.
Schtinter’s intriguing choices transform this arbitrary framework into a well-researched, original journey through modern cultural history. Why did the members of the Heaven’s Gate cult watch Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies before committing mass suicide? Did Kurt Cobain recognize the similarities between himself and Ada, the tragic heroine of Jane Campion’s The Piano?
The creative editing draws surprising connections, while Schtinter muses on the role of cinema in our lives. Everything is held together by actor Jeremy Irons’s wry commentary.
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