Last Things Film Festival

We want YOU to support fellow frens.

As many of you are aware, our good friend Last Things has worked tirelessly to bring together dozens of content creators from all across the online right to participate in his first annual Last Picture Shows, with over 30 interviews from people like Auron MacIntyre, to George Bagby, to Zero H.P. Lovecraft and Thomas777; from kids’ films like Zootopia to modern blockbusters like Dune; from TV shows like True Detective to Westerns like The Searchers; and everything in between. We here at the OGC had the pleasure of having a number of our members participate this year. Prudentialist, RedHawk, Clossington, and Charlemagne all discussed radically different movies. Below you’ll find a teaser of the themes and topics each of them discussed. We hope you’ll take the time to listen to their episodes, and all the others, from this year’s film festival. Enjoy.

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RedHawk

The movie I chose to discuss with Last Things was the 1987 fantasy-comedy The Princess Bride. I adore this film, not just because of its excellent acting, wonderful story, and hilarious comedy, but also for its endearing themes and heartwarming message. It’s a film that I always keep coming back to, and the first film I’ll ever watch with a new girlfriend. True love existing and stopping all in their tracks is a timeless theme that will warm the hearts of people of all ages. If you haven’t seen it, I cannot recommend it enough. The comedy is superb, the acting is top-notch, and it also has one of the best-choreographed sword fights in cinema history. Go watch The Princess Bride; you won’t regret it.

Clossington

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) is a two-and-a-half-hour-long battle of wits between two warships across the globe during the Napoleonic Wars. This loose adaptation of the Aubrey–Maturin book series painstakingly and faithfully recreates life, combat, and social dynamics aboard a British frigate. Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and his trusty surgeon Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) navigate the dynamic and politically-charged roles and responsibilities of being leaders of their little wooden world. The midshipman officers and crew of the HMS Surprise faithfully strive to take down a significantly larger French privateer at a great loss of life. This film begins and ends with the best depictions of naval combat during the Age of Sail. No other film portrays such a historically authentic and cinematically awe-inspiring, beautiful depiction of life at sea.

Mr. Prudentialist

I had the great pleasure of speaking to Last Things about the great Akira Kurosawa and his 1965 film Red Beard. While most people know Kurosawa from his samurai pieces like Seven Samurai or The Hidden Fortress, Red Beard takes a series of stories about a Japanese physician during the late Tokugawa period and turns it into one of the most Christian films I’ve ever seen. The titular Red Beard is tasked with training a rebellious new graduate from medical school out in very spartan conditions, and is faced with trials of lust, pride, and caring for the sick and poor. While Kurosawa himself isn’t a Christian, he does use the Red Beard stories also to adapt one of Dostoevsky’s lesser-known novels. It is a film that reminds us of how we should care for one another, and the lasting impact a strong teacher can leave on us.

Charlemagne

For the Last Picture Show Film Festival, I reviewed Cape Fear (1991). The plot of Cape Fear revolves around a conflict between Robert DeNiro’s character Max Cady and Nick Nolte’s character Sam Bowden. Max Cady accuses Mr. Bowden of purposefully breaking his oath as a lawyer in failing to defend his client Cady to his utmost ability. The entire drama between Cady and Bowden is a cipher for Mr. Bowden breaking his oath of marriage. However, Cady is not the avenging angel character he attempts to portray himself as, but a stand-in for the Devil himself. The physical, factual plot of the movie is simply the vessel for the “actual” metaphysical plot, which is between the Devil and Mr. Bowden.

The film has a number of techniques to convey this — perhaps the most stand-out moment being the lengthy scene in which Cady seduces Mr. Bowden’s daughter, Danielle, in a literal “garden” while wearing black and red. Notably, throughout most of the film, Cady’s technique is to tempt his prey into sin rather than to attack them directly. While he is obviously provocative, he is quite literally only provoking characters into illegal or sinful behavior. It is always the Devil’s prey who initiate lawbreaking and violence in each step in the film, which is only ever returned in kind.

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This is just a taste of what you will get in listening to over 30 movie reviews that Last Things has put together. It’s important that endeavors like this are successful. Who knows? Maybe this will become a yearly event that we all look forward to every year — much like Millenniyule and many others.

Use the code OGCLPS23 to get 50% off on the bundle. Get into the Christmas spirit, and support fellow frens:

https://lastthings.gumroad.com/l/lps23