Los Ultimos Dias Or The Last Days (incredibly difficult to translate) is an engaging and innovative post-apocalyptic thriller. Movies about the end of the world, like this one, are like a tide that washes over your reality. You know you’re going to drown and you welcome it, knowing that there’s still hope. A big reset button and you know you secretly wonder what would happen (I know I do). The script is great, with excellent character development that’s sometimes a bit longer than you feel it should be. However, I do think that this is just due to the difference in productions and I guess Spanish sensibility.
Still, it follows the holy rule of the correct order of things, meaning that you first imagine a certain situation and characters and then simply generate their stories. I know it sounds a bit mechanical but you know what I’m talking about. There’re no sudden and inexplicable transitions in the story, just to have the main characters fight in the rain or do something else, but the story flows naturally. That realism is the thing that’s so haunting about this movie, and other post-apocalyptic features follow in the same path. I also have to add that since the events that happened in 2020, all these movies have gained a new dimension.
The world has ended. Due to a catastrophic event, people are forced to live underground and as they seek shelter, they also seek their loved ones. Meet Marc, a computer programmer who is currently digging a tunnel under his office building in an effort to reconnect with his girlfriend Julia. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes to get to her. And if this means that he has to pair up with his old boss Enrique, so be it…
The idea behind the outbreak is really original and it makes half the movie. Now, when it comes to genre standards, in Los Ultimos Dias there are no zombies, evil dead, or possessed demons. Just people, and as you’re about to see that’s pretty fucking enough. The atmosphere is intense and conversations and events unfold with a great sense of reality. The production values are great and the movie resembles some big blockbusters. I don’t want to bother you with all the parallels to our modern and disconnected lives.
When it comes to acting, I think you can guess that it was fucking perfection, as it is with most Spanish movies. Starring José Coronado from La Caja 507 and fucking No Rest for the Wicked, Los Ultimos Dias is a refreshing and original take on the harsh realities of the post-apocalyptic world, so be sure to check it out. Just a couple of years earlier, Pastor brothers directed Carriers, a similar movie with some of the same motives. I also have to mention the novel Metro 2033, a bit bleaker but more realistic telling of the apocalypse. Followed by two sequels, it was also adapted into a very successful video game franchise.
Director: David Pastor, Àlex Pastor
Writer: David Pastor, Àlex Pastor
Cast: Quim Gutiérrez, José Coronado, Marta Etura, Leticia Dolera, Isak Férriz, Mikel Iglesias
Fun Facts: Budget €5.5 million
Rating:
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935914/
