There is a form of disappointment that comes from residing in a stressed state of FOMO — or concern of lacking out, because the acronym goes. The experiences you’d squander in case you didn’t present as much as an event, the following music you wouldn’t hear in case you left a celebration too early and so on. In Italian filmmaker Francesco Sossai’s loose-limbed and quietly enchanting sophomore function “The Last One for the Road,” energetic 50-somethings Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla) appear to have invented the right remedy for FOMO by dishonest it perpetually. To these penniless and amiably drunken males, each boozy beverage is at all times the final one — really, for actual this time, the final one — till the following one which normally comes proper after. To them, the celebration isn’t fairly over.
Thankfully, Carlobianchi and Doriano by no means come throughout as leachy, intoxicated creeps (the best way hard-drinking older males like them might be in actual life) and there’s a storybook high quality to the duo’s tipsy and bickering friendship: It’s virtually like their bromance is marriage, Italian type. Their eternal merrymaking might sound heat and fuzzy at first look, however in fact, there’s a gloomy undercurrent to their existence, hiding simply beneath the floor. The olden days appear to have slipped away from them quickly. And the monetary disaster of 2008 has in all probability been tough on them as a pair who burned by means of no matter money they possessed. If solely they may dig up the sizable chunk of cash that their previous good friend buried someplace on the town earlier than he left for Argentina. Maybe they are going to sooner or later, proper after that final drink.
Written by Sossai and Adriano Candiago (and loosely born out of a few of their real-life experiences), “The Last One for the Road” grasps its lead characters’ aging-related anxieties acutely and insightfully, amplified throughout the years you can be thought-about neither previous nor younger, just like the ’70s-born Carlobianchi and Doriano. All of a sudden, you understand that issues you possibly can swear occurred about 10 years in the past are classic occasions of three many years previous, and time slows down for nobody. So who may blame the 2 for desperately attempting to carry onto the current?
While Sossai doesn’t precisely dwell on this disappointment, its delicate presence nonetheless infuses his unassuming function with a melancholic high quality, a wistful aura that brings to thoughts the fable-adjacent movies of Alice Rohrwacher. The soulful and aching ambiance of Rohrwacher’s movies is equally on the backdrop of Carlobianchi and Doriano’s escapades as they bar hop, change random tales (perhaps actual, perhaps made-up), share life recommendation with everybody of their orbit, narrowly escape the police like getaway drivers throughout modest but spectacular chase scenes and order that remaining drink that can be something however. On the background of their ceaseless journey is the fantastic Venetian plains, landscapes and settlements that appear to be caught in a transitionary area, like Carlobianchi and Doriano, someplace between city and pastoral.
The smartest factor any previous(er) particular person may do is cross on their earned knowledge to the younger. While Carlobianchi and Doriano typically have a tough time remembering the teachings they’ve realized and revelations they landed on (they drink incessantly, in any case), they do precisely that by taking underneath their wing the younger Giulio (Filippo Scotti), an structure scholar who’s adrift and intrigued.
Though extra agile and adventurous in its construction early on, “The Last One for the Road” assumes a extra standard tone because the trio group up throughout a rowdy but innocent street journey. The reflective themes the movie has been taking part in with progressively reduce a contact too — it feels somewhat trite when the film dedicates a major period of time to the older duo advising Giulio on ladies, ultimately enabling a hook-up for him. The assured smile the till then timid Giulio wears on his face in consequence is equally cliched.
Beautifully shot on movie inventory, “The Last One for the Road” nonetheless has a lot to supply elsewhere, particularly in Sossai’s portrayal of various architectural buildings throughout the central trio’s street journey. Mansions and trendy buildings alike enrich the characters’ impromptu and various itinerary, and some impressed situations of creative flashbacks that braid collectively the previous and the current show filmmaking panache. Meanwhile, the effortlessly off-the-cuff rhythms of the script recall Richard Linklater’s conversational movies with characters organically bonding and talking their thoughts. (A foolish remark about who may need invented shrimp cocktail is particularly humorous with a nostalgic wink on the ’90s.) When all of it begins feeling a bit repetitive, a splash of suspense lifts up the film with the trio teaming up for a petty con whereas sipping luscious daiquiris.
You don’t depart “The Last One for the Road” with the sensation that you’ve got seen one thing life-affirmingly unique. But there may be nonetheless a way of disarming consolation within the movie’s down-to-earth demeanor, and Giulio’s rewarding if predictable arc. In one of many film’s many casually paced scenes, Carlobianchi and Doriano have ice cream in a taste they didn’t intend to eat, anticipating a bitter style, however getting one thing candy as a substitute. Right then, they may be speaking in regards to the aromas of their very own lives, however in reverse. And that’s the spirit of “The Last One for the Road” in a nutshell: desperate to feed its viewers one thing candy when all else appears bitter.
