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Product Detail |
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Audio Format: DD 5.1 Surround, DD 2.0 Stereo Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic) Languages: Japanese, Thai Subtitles: English, Korean Region Code: ALL Year Made: 2003 Running Time: 103
A story of two very different people coming together in the wake of personal tragedies, Last Life in the Universe stars Tadanobu Asano as Kenji, a quiet, bespectacled Japanese librarian living in Bangkok. Obsessed with suicide, he meticulously stages ways to kill himself, only to be interrupted every time. One night, his more raucous brother shows up for an unexpected visit, accompanied by a yakuza gangster.
A gunfight breaks out, leaving both visitors dead. Kenji ventures out into the night and happens upon Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak), a feisty bargirl whose sister has just died in an accident following a fight over their shared boyfriend. Kenji accompanies Noi to her sprawling, dilapidated house in the country, where a relationship develops despite their language barrier and clashing personalities, until another twist of fate threatens to tear them apart.
 In contrast to his more boisterous Mon-Rak Transistor, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Last Life in the Universe is a much quieter film about modern loneliness. Divided by their languages (Kenji speaks Japanese, Noi speaks Thai) and personalities, the film's two protagonists are united in their desire for redemption and love. Ratanaruang is far from the first contemporary filmmaker to enter this territory, and his film has the atmosphere of any number of others in which lost souls are overwhelmed by the complexity of simply living. Except for some pacing problems (which also marred Mon-Rak Transistor), the film is well made and the two leads develop an enjoyable chemistry.
Sinitta Boonyasak is wonderfully engaging as Noi, the tough, whimsical, but somehow disciplined, bargirl. Tadanobu Asano's performance as Kenji is more mannered. His character is essentially an enigma we never come to understand, and Asano a much sought after actor who's turned in memorable performances in everything from Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi to Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer never seems to get a handle on him.
Last Life in the Universe also features the talents of cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who is at his best here. The light is creamy and rich, giving almost every scene the look of a Vermeer painting. When a film looks this good, it's easy to forgive its flaws.
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