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It has become very difficult for the media to portray the realistic essence of virile male bonding because of the homosexual connotations that the public force upon themselves to notice every time some sort of guy-with-guy conversation pops up on screen. This theme that has been ignored by many has become a subject for exploration for the movie Last Orders.

Last Order movie is about the lives of three old friends who have been taken to the situation of burying the fourth member of their group. The plot patterns have been tried numerous times but the saving grace of the whole movie lay on the talented cast members.

Michael Caine plays Jack. He died recently and left a widow, two children and three of his closest friends. He left a last request asking that his three lifelong friends, Vic(Tom Courtenay), Lenny(David Hemmings) and Ray(Bob Hoskins) throw his remains out at sea on his and his wife Amy’s(Helen Mirren) honeymoon location. They are all joined by Jack’s son Vince (Ray Winstone).

During the long drive out, each of them started to reflect and share the different experiences they had with Jack which led their lives to the changes that they never expected. These are seen in various flashbacks throughout the movie. Fred Schepisi, who wrote and directed the film, chose distinguishing experiences for the characters to ponder and look back to which made the whole story much more intelligently written.

These experiences are graciously written in detail so the audience will easily discover what the writer wishes them to learn from that particular moment. Most of the character relationships are clichéd but you will not be disappointed with the end result. One example would be Jack’s relationship with Jack. It is obvious that the father and son had issues stemming from Vince’s adolescence experience because that is considered to be the norm.

Still, the domestic workings of Jack and Vince’s relationship makes their interactions surprising and spontaneous even with the usual arguments that have been heard in many other films.

However, just like the many films that are based on the British working class, there is that factor of the dialects that make the conversations difficult to understand. This makes the whole friendship and relationships in the film seem more realistic but the dialogue needed to dissect the emotional instances in the film confuse the non-Brit audience and make it hard for them to know what is really going on. The only things you can rely on are the facial expressions and even then it’s not useful when there are certain secrets that are being revealed.

Last Orders may be one of the underappreciated films that give pride to the acting and thematic perception that not many offer. The cast is able to portray the enjoyable relationship that has made them stronger every time they faced a test in their life. Their tendency to make mistakes now and again makes the characters easier to relate to as well.

This has given the movie its rating stars and will continue to touch audiences, if only they would stop and look to see if the memory is as good as what’s to come.

Last Orders

Genre: Drama

Director: Fred Schepisi

Cast: Bob Hoskins,Helen Miren,Ray Winstone,Tom Courtenay,Michael Caine

Country: Germany, UK

Year: 2001

Language: English

Awards: National Board of Review,London Critics Circle Film Awards

Published: July 30, 2010 | By Ajay Singh

Tags: Bob Hoskins,Fred Schepisi,Helen Miren,Last Orders,London Critics Circle Film Awards,Michael Caine,National Board of Review,Ray Winstone,Tom Courtenay

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