Right from the outset, the supposed chance meeting between Leticia (Nicole Beharie) and Niklas (Ken Duken) never quite ignited the sparks necessary to propel this rom-com forward. The appeal of seeing these young actors on the screen clearly rolled over after the first 15 minutes.
The reason is the film itself – the script, the plot, the dialogue, and above all the cinematography. This film is neither a comedy nor a romance. And even to call it a drama will be a stretch of the imagination because it lacked any amount of it.
What My Last Day Without You is firmly rooted in is definitely not reality, nor is it fantasy. The movie hovers between something more attune to boring and unimaginative.
Perhaps the desire to pair a black woman with a white man in a romantic movie, no matter the motivation, overshadowed the attention that was needed to script a film that was at least fun, and furthermore realistic.
To make my point I could draw on many aspects of the film. However I feel besotted by the cinematography alone, as it is the most visual part of a film and use this to explain why My Last Day Without You as a romance, as drama and as comedy failed.
New York City’s scenery is perhaps a stupendous one for any cinematographer and I feel the choice of locations and the lighting were particularly impressive. That’s it.
Leticia and Niklas looked like they never really wanted to be around each other. This reading of the film is probably attributed to two factors –the actors themselves and more importantly, the cinematography.
From start until the end of the film, both actors, even when they had become lovers, were never captured in a shot where they were engrossed with each other – cuddling, stroking, kissing, or just plainly admiring each other. The few shots of them together were at best disingenuously posy.
To illustrate my point I juxtapose shots from an equally funded independent romance film – Like Crazy.
In sum, any true reader of My Last Day Without You would quickly realize that a director’s inability to capture such moments is not failure alone but an obvious lack of understanding of the genre.
Some may argue that the portrayal of aloofness depicts the hesitation felt by two young people from different sides of a cultural divide and from either side of a color barrier; that these timid shots serve to portray the breaching of that unfamiliar territory that lovers may often encounter.
I disagree. At all cost, and at some point, they have to fall in love, they have to look like they care more about each other than they care about the world; that they want to give love a shot. They have to lunge deep into love and fall out of it if need be – since the barriers to entry are too difficult to break. To this end Jungle Fever is prime addition.
No matter how a romance is done, such turning points are as important as making the film itself. And in My Last Day Without You there were none to rely on, none to turn to and none to propel the film to where it would rub shoulders with others like Like Crazy and Jungle Fever.
It’s just a shame that the muntin bar separating the images of Leticia and Niklas at the beginning of the film was never broken down; it was never crossed and the couple couldn’t quite stoke the romance this film desperately needed.
What a shame!
Director: Stefan C. Schaefer
Writers: Stefan C. Schaefer, Christoph Silber
Stars: Nicole Beharie, Reg E. Cathey, Ken Duken
I like Nicole Beharie so for me it is a shame that this movie isn’t on par with her great performance in American Violet. I wasn’t a big fan of The Last Fall either, so I don’t know if it is a failure of her acting or of her agent’s film choices. She is in a television show this fall so hopefully that’s a better look for her. But I guess if she’s going to tv so quickly then not much chance she will be a huge film star.
Insightful… had a long argument with friends about how average this film was. I expected more laughs but I felt robbed – I made them laugh at the theater by ridiculing the film myself. But seriously, can be stop making these kind of movies and start doing real work? Serious work?
I loved this film! The comedy was awesome. I find it hard to believe that others didn’t find this movie funny, really guys??? I loved both actors, I thought the Chemistry was there though it did not catch fire, but it was present. Nicole Beharie did a terrific job… I can’t wait to see her win an oscar, I just think she is such a gifted actress.
I disagree, think the chemistry was good and liked the tentative nature of the relationship. Felt more realistic, they were not necessarily in love yet, but there was mutual attraction and lust. The cultural and even social differences were also expressed well and the comedy was subtle and not over the top. I really liked it, it was sweet without causing cavities.
I loved this film. In fact, love it. I have watched it nearly every night for weeks now. You know this movie is partly based of a real life situation. We must not forget that life isn’t always roll in the hay romance or watching a movie together while eating popcorn and it turning to love-making. Love is a steady calm thing and has more meaning than lust and desire, and in love. Two people happen to meet and one unaware because they have never been in love, falls for the other, They then are able to cause the other to also fall. The two give of each other openly and they share realizing they do have common bonds. – I have in the past year or so, seen five movies all of which had the same type of love scenes. “Call Me By Your Name”, “Dying Young”, “Besieged”, “Basquiat”, and “This Is My Last Day Without You.” They all have people who love one another, and have a bed scene, but none show actual or scenes of love-making. They all (at least to me) are in love with each other. Love doesn’t have to be sweaty to be breath-takingly passionate. The reviewer seems to have missed Niklas saying “I too am somehow nervous.” But… he still showed Ticia he was more than interested. And the pain she felt driving back after taking him to the airport. How could he miss that. Even the pain when she left Niklas and went to her father’s place. She wasn’t hurting because her shoes were too tight. She was hurt by Niklas whom she had developed feelings for. I have always said, you can only be hurt by someone you love. The reviewer needs to see the moving with the eye of a lover not a cynic. Oh you would pull you hair out oer “Besieged” with Thandie Newton and David Thewlis. __HDJ