The Last Island — The Last Island( Blu Ray)
The Last Island is a drama-come-adventure film from the 1990s regarding five men and two women- marooned on a desert island. It seems some worldwide disaster has occurred & they may be the only people left alive. The film certainly treads the expected marooned/ stranded adventure tropes, but it equally tattles topics like toxic masculinity, dangerous faith, control, and whether or not humankind should continue after a worldwide disaster. The film features a well-chosen cast, the odd, surprising twists & turns in the plot, and a fair bit of food for thought. Here from Cult Epics is a recent region-free release of the film- taking in a 4k scan of the picture, commentary track, and a few other extras.
The Last Island is a Dutch film from the year 1990- filmed on the shores & jungles of Tobago. It was the third feature film from Roermond, Limburg, Netherlands-born Marleen Gorris. To date, she has eight full-length films to her name. These go from her debut film- A Question Of Silence (1982) a thought-provoking and at times provocative drama-come-crime mystery. Onto brothel-set drama-come-low-key serial killer thriller Broken Mirrors (1984). Through to comedy drama Antonia's Line (1995), and biography drama Within The Whirlwind (2009) which focuses on a female literature professor- who was sent for ten years of hard labour in a gulag in Siberia during the time of Starlin’s reign. Both A Question Of Silence & Broken Mirrors have been reissued over the last few years in excellent Blu-Ray editions by Cult Epics- these are both well worth picking up.
The Last Island skips the airplane crash it’s self- instead it opens with the seven survivors coming around on the beach, in the foreground is the downed passage aircraft. There are the two women Mrs Godame (Patricia Hayes) a white woman in her 70’s, and Joanne (Shelagh McLeod) a late twenties woman in a yellow-shouldered padded suit.
The four men take in Jake (Ian Tracey) who's in his late teen & kind of cocky. Pious & stern military man in his forties Nick (Kenneth Colley), caring but- passive scientist Pierre (Marc Berman), rich & bearded Scotsman Sean( Paul Freeman), and blond twenty-some Frank(Mark Hembrow)- the last two are gay.
The film runs at the one hour and forty-minute mark. It blends the drama & adventure elements well enough, though it certainly leans more into the drama of things. So, while we do get the normal plot tropes of this type thing- checking out & searching the plane, discovering the island, building a boat, etc- with a few fairly tense & fleeting moments of gore along the way. You’ll need to be more open to the dramatic interaction between the seven, and not solely looking for just marooned action.
All of the cast are excellent each getting their moment in the film's unfold. Along the way, we do get a few at points jarring surprises/ twists in the plot, with the whole thing resolving in a fairly thoughtful if downbeat manner.
The plane itself looks impressive for what I’d imagined wouldn’t have been the largest of budgets- and the literal drop of the torn-in-half passengers on the beach. And the group build an impressive-looking boat. The whole film is well-scoped & composed in its shot use.
This recent Blu-Ray is region-free. It takes in a 2k scan from one of the last existing English language prints of the film. The new scan is certainly bold & clean in its colouring. Yes, three are a few moments of print damage here & there- but none of these are drastic.
On the new extras side, we get a commentary track from Dutch Film Scholar Peter Verstraten. He starts off by pointing out notable names in the film's Dutch crew, touching on issues they had with the plane wreck. He discusses some of the more notable actors in the cast like Paul Freeman- who most known role was in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. English actress Patricia Hayes, and Canadian actor Ian Tracey whose most well-known role was playing Huckleberry Finn in the late 70’s/ early 80’s TV series Huckleberry Finn and His Friends. He discusses the film's production history. Later on, he talks about the ‘stuck on an island’ genre and details notable/ great films in the genre. He discusses some of the plot reveals, and the film's themes. All in all, a well-researched & informative track.
Otherwise, on the archive side, we have Interview with Politica Columnist Annemarie Grewel (11.31) a TV interview from the year 1990. Behind-the-Scenes of The Last Island (16.51). And a theatrical trailer, and a Cult Epics trailer reel.
The Last Island is a worthy addition to the ‘lost-on-an-island’ genre- with some great acting throughout, and more than a little food for thought with the topics brought up. Let's hope that Cult Epics will be reissuing more of Ms Marleen Gorris's filmography down the line.