Last survivors

"We all have our own version... That painful experience, that scar that creates hatred and fear. The mental wounds that make us want to retreat away from others and create our own private utopia. As someone who struggles with anxiety, the temptation of retreating from the world can be overwhelming. For me, there is a constant battle of putting up walls, protecting myself from opinions, criticism, but at the same time needing those very things to improve who I am. Our production was set to begin just as the US went into lockdown. Forced into isolation, this romantic idea of creating a private utopia became very real, and very much a nightmare. To me, this made our story - a fable about the dangers of isolation - even more important to tell. We worked feverishly to plan an independent production that could film in remote Montana winter conditions, during COVID, with a small and safe crew. We came together, in sub-zero temperatures, and the feeling of helplessness I felt during lockdown transformed into a bittersweet hope that I really think touched every part of this film. As someone who puts up walls because of my anxieties, I related deeply with Troy and Henrietta, who both have chosen to isolate themselves from the world. But Jake is the character I've come to admire. His idealism allows him to break free of Troy's isolation, and inspire Henrietta to return to the world. I've come to believe that without idealism - without the idea that tomorrow can be a better day than the last - we will retreat into our worst instincts... build walls, isolate ourselves from others, and in turn... lose our humanity. And to me, that is what Last Survivors is about." - Drew Mylrea

It is interesting to see how the current pandemic has not only changed our lives forever, but also how we now perceive the world around us. Today's society has had to not only adapt to this new life but also learn to re-prioritize itself in a world where it has long been impossible to travel far, where we have been forced to isolate ourselves and not enjoy the pleasures of life such as going to the movies, to the theater, seeing gifted comedians on stage or going to concerts to see superstars. We feel that Josh Janowicz's script has captured perfectly the upheavals of our time and how some people wanted to leave our society to build their own universe.  Last survivors turns out to be an excellent thriller in which a father and son and a woman who preferred to leave the world around him to rebuild.

Troy (Stephen Moyer) has raised his now adult son, Jake (Drew Van Acker) thousands of miles away from the cities. When Troy is severely injured, Jake is forced to travel to the outside world to find life-saving medicine. Ordered to kill every human he encounters, Jake defies his father by entering into a forbidden relationship with a mysterious woman, Henrietta (Alicia Silverstone). As Jake pursues this dangerous affair, Troy will do anything to get rid of Henrietta and protect the perfect utopia he has created.   A confrontation is inevitable and will put Henrietta's love for him to the test.

The second film of the director Drew Mylrea (Spy intervention) seduces by its superb photography (the film was shot in Montana) worthy of the great westerns that have marked our memory but especially by its will to propose a relentless thriller in a natural environment and to show us how our view can be biased if we undergo, as the character of Jake, the vision of a tyrannical father who is ready to do anything so that the world he has created remains the same. Far from offering us a post-apocalyptic science fiction film, Last Survivors reminds us of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004). We won't say more about it to let you immerse yourself in a world in which appearances are often deceiving.

In the same way, it is a pleasure to see again the actress Alicia Silverstone, who marked the 90's forever with films like Hideaway (1995), Clueless (1995), Batman & Robin (1997), but also Scooby-Doo 2 (2004), Alex Rider: Stormbreaker (Stormbreaker) (2006). Far from the Hollywood studios, Alicia Silverstone finds here one of her best roles and brings to this film an important feminine touch. In the same way the actors Drew Van Acker, Stephen Moyer compose a realistic family in which a father imposes a harmful and overprotective influence on his son. The film is a pleasure to watch and shows us that in this world nothing is all black or white, the multiple shades of color make our world difficult to define and that chimeras can be dangerous if we believe in them.

We can only advise you to discover Last survivors in particular to find an actress who has become rare on our big screens but also a film carried by a superb photography and a tempo without any false note. Of course Last survivors remains a simple film but it never forgets to entertain us and to offer us something else than a rehashed and tasteless story.

Last survivors
Directed by Drew Mylrea
Produced by Sunil Perkash, Colin Bates, Akaash Yadav, Michael Jefferson
Written by Josh Janowicz
Starring Drew Van Acker, Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Moyer
Music by David Deutsch
Cinematography: Julian Amaru Estrada
Edited by Bradley Mclaughlin
Distributed by Vertical Entertainment (United States)
Release date : November 4, 2021 (Leeds)
Running time : 98 minutes

Seen on October 29, 2021 (press screener)

Mulder's Mark: