On Demand Weekly

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH (IFC Films).

4:44 THE LAST DAY ON EARTH
By Adam Schartoff

It’s the last day of life on the planet. You’ve only got a few hours left, what do you do with that time?

It’s a terrifying thought but a provocative one as well. On the heels of Lars von Trier’s MELANCHOLIA which explores that same question but on a more transcendental level, comes Abel Ferrara’s latest movie 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH. This movie, too, explores the question of what one might do with those precious last hours and provides the most outrageous answer of all... not much.

The film, staged almost like a one-set play, takes place almost entirely inside the Downtown NYC loft of couple former addict Cisco (a superb Willem Dafoe) and artist Tina (Natasha Lyonne). The In their remaining hours, the couple make love, Skype with family and friends, order in Chinese food, make love again, argue and forgive. While outside their window some desperate events are taking place, mostly it’s just business as usual; taxis driving passengers around, people walking the sidewalks, shops open for business.

It’s an intriguing idea and Ferrara shoots New York like New Yorkers see it.

Ferrara has generally been more concerned with more extreme vistas in past films.; most notably films like KING OF NEW YORK and BAD LIEUTENANT. But since GO GO TALES came out to less than an illustrious reception (wrongly so) a few years ago, Ferrara has toned down the volume and made a couple of feature length documentaries.