The Last Station (2009) or, The Genius, the Countess and the Secretary

10/15/2018

The Last Station (2009) or, The Genius, the Countess and the Secretary

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Most Undeserved Flop Movie of the Year + Best Russian Movie of the Year + Best Drama of the Year

Two intimate bedside situations make up the warm-colored poster for Michael Hoffman's The Last Station

We follow a young secretary to Russian literary genius Leo Tolstoy, who ventures to his master's country estate to act as his faithful helper. But he finds a contradictory man with a temperamental countess wife and a foaming, fanatical publisher.

The Last Station is written and directed by great Hawaiian filmmaker Michael Hoffman (Privileged (1982)), adapting the same-titled novel by Jay Parini (Town Life (1988), poems). The period bio-drama is a joy from start to finish, a film with classical virtues in its story, which centers on the great man Tolstoy and in the universal and ever relevant theme of love.
The Last Station is impressively staged and shot with many closeups (cinematographer Sebastian Edschmid (Sweet Mud/Adama Meshuga'at (2006))), which gives it an intimate feeling. We never wallow in period details or get distracted by any unrelated elements. And The Last Station features outstanding performances from Christopher Plummer (Syriana (2005)), - who bizarrely won his long career's only Oscar the subsequent year for the both lesser film (Beginners) and performance in it, - and Helen Mirren (Losing Chase (1996), TV movie); Paul Giamatti (Sideways (2004)) and James McAvoy (The Conspirator (2010)) are also very good. The Last Station is a touching and thoroughly lovely film.

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 13.5 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.75 times the cost)
[The Last Station premiered 4 September (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 112 minutes. Hoffman had chanced to buy Parini's book to read on a train ride and fell for it. Shooting took place in Germany and Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, ending in April 2008. The film opened #40 to a 73k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #15 and in 354 theaters and grossed 6.6 mil. $ (48.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 1.7 mil. $ (12.6 %) and Australia with 1 mil. $ (7.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Lead Actress (Mirren), lost to Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, and Best Supporting Actor (Plummer, strangely subjugated to the supporting category), lost to Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 5 Independent Spirit awards and some other honors. Hoffman returned with Gambit (2012). Plummer returned in Beginners (2010), Mirren in Love Ranch (2010) and McAvoy in The Conspirator (2010). The Last Station is fresh at 71 % with a 6.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Last Station?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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10/15/2018

The Last Station (2009) or, The Genius, the Countess and the Secretary

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