Boston's Alternative Source! image!
Feedback

[Short Reviews]

LAST RESORT

This grim Shooting Gallery film tells the story of a young Russian woman and her son who become accidental refugees while trying to visit her English fiancé — a deadbeat who never comes to meet them at the airport. Tanya (Dina Korzun) is far from the smudged, sorry-looking thing you’d expect; she’s more a girl of butterfly hairclips and tempting curves. After she and 10-year-old Artyom (Artyom Strelnikov) find themselves stranded at the gate, she seeks political asylum, hoping to catch up with the faceless fiancé. Instead, the confused two are shuttled to a holding area in a bleak seaside town, where they are trapped while their papers are processed. Tanya’s looks attract the likes of the local arcade manager, Alfie (Paddy Considine), who proves himself to be more sensitive than scummy. Meanwhile 10-year-old Artyom is initiated into a band of local fellow refugee thugs — drinking, vomiting, stealing, and peeping.

Writer/director Pawe<t-56><z6><b-2>⁄<b$><z$><t$>l Pawlikowski shoots the depressing scenes with harsh light and grainy film stock; the result is perfectly uncomfortable. Alfie eventually helps the transplanted duo throw off the shackles of the seaside resort. But as they escape their imprisonment, Tanya and Artyom also leave the true love she’s been seeking. Last Resort is unresolved and upsetting — and honest and beautiful.

By Nina Willdorf