Frayed Chords; Van Sant's Thinly Veiled Biopic Gently Wails; Last Days

Summary

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For the bulk of the film [Gus Van Sant] simply holds a square space through which the film?s self-destructing hero, Blake (Hedwig and the Angry Inch?s Michael Pitt) barely manages to move. He?s so diffident as to be all but inaudible, mumbling in response to infrequent questions and then wandering off-frame again. Blake has fled rehab and is hiding out in a decaying mansion vaguely occupied by the shreds of his former entourage, apparently preparing to die. And it doesn?t seem that anyone particularly cares, though Kim Gordon has a brief appearance as an unusually compassionate record executive, or mother, or old friend--we never really know who she is, but she cares enough to chew him out ("What do you tell [your daughter]? Do you say, ?I?m sorry I?m a rock ?n? roll cliché??"). You sense that everyone in Blake?s life has either given up on him or extracted everything useful and beautiful, draining him to serve their careerism.

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Frayed Chords; Van Sant's Thinly Veiled Biopic Gently Wails; Last Days

If you were one of those people who found Kurt Cobain to be whiny and irritating, very likely you?ll have no use for Last Days. If, however, you be...

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