It’s nice to see the world ending without alien intervention or consumed by a CG whirlwind, and 4:44 Last Day on Earth saddles up alongside recent cinematic apocalypses including Perfect Sense, Children of Men and Melancholia as another example of a visually understated but emotionally powerful end of days.
Abel Ferrara’s film made an impression on the festival circuit last year and is out on limited release in a month’s time in the States so there’s a new trailer to celebrate this fact, and it certainly worked its magic on me. Sadly there’s no UK release date anywhere so it may fly straight onto Blu-ray without a cinematic release which would be a shame.
Speaking in Venice last year Ferrara introduced the film as ‘about man’s destruction of the Earth’,
This isn’t about a meteorite, this isn’t […] some horror show. This is about humanity not coming to terms with its carbon footprint […] It’s on us. It’s our responsibility.
Watch the trailer and you’ll see how the imminent end of everything is handled, it certainly seems as though Willem Dafoe carries this one along with his co-star Shanyn Leigh. It’s made it way on my Must See list.
Here’s a bonus video of Ferrara talking about the film at Venice, laying out his thoughts behind the film.
