Review of The Last Day

This is an interesting, but ultimately disappointing film. The plot twists (of which there are several) are telegraphed way ahead, so if one is paying attention they become obvious and hence unsurprising. The characters are well-drawn and the soundtrack is quite nice. This is a very French film. It has all the obligatory scenes, including many of characters brooding where no one speaks. It even features several scenes on a train, as is required of all true French films. Also classically French is that one must guess at motivation, and the film does leave many questions unanswered.

This film does best as a character study of a small ensemble of interesting people. The boy, his parents, and his childhood best friend. His sister has a very small role, serving mostly to provide excuse for exposition and show other sides of the boy's personality.