THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD
(Check out Chris Reed’s The Last One for the Road movie review, it’s in theaters now! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
The Last One for the Road, from Italian director Francesco Sossai (Other Cannibals), is a road-trip movie that meanders a little bit all over the cinematic map yet nevertheless reaches a satisfying destination by the end. A celebration of friendship and pleasure seeking, the film insists that life is best experienced fully lived, whatever that may look life. To our protagonists, that means a lot of drinking (as the title implies), but you should pick your own poison. The object of the exercise is to have a good time.
Middle-aged Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Dori (Pierpaolo Capovilla) are best pals and have been for years. When we first encounter them, they are asleep in their car on the side of the road. Are they drunk? Looks that way, but more importantly, they could use one more beverage. So off they go again.
They do have an end goal in mind, which is to last until the morning and make it to the Venice airport—or a different airport, they’re not sure—where another old friend, Genio (Andrea Pennacchi), is arriving after many years spent in Argentina. Why Argentina? Something to do with some not-so-petty crimes he committed with the other two, the consequences of which required him to flee the country rather quickly back in 2008.
Along their rambling journey, Carlobianchi and Dori pick up a young architecture student, Giulio (Filippo Scotti), and bring him into their nocturnal (and then diurnal) mess. Actually, they more or less abduct him, though their intentions are noble (to them). He has, after all, just struck out with the woman on whom he has a crush, who wants to party while he just wants to go home.
It turns out that hanging with Carlobianchi and Dori is not the way to do that, however. It is a way to drive around, drink a lot, and possibly eat some fine food (provided long-remembered restaurants aren’t now out of business). And so Giulio makes the duo a threesome, joining in on the drifting joyride.
Underneath the surface is a profound nostalgia for time gone by, money splurged, and youth vanished. Perhaps that’s why the older men take such an interest in Giulio: he reminds them of a moment when the future lay ahead. Still, he’ll have to learn how to take risks, and maybe they can at least teach him how to do that.
The Last One for the Road may not be everyone’s idea of the perfect night cap, especially with its casual dalliance with sex work and alcoholism, but it proves effective if you give into its shaggy charm. And the essential message—carpe diem—is inarguable. Otherwise, what’s the point of even being here?
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
