The Last Journey Review
It’s an imperfect journey, but perhaps touches on a uniquely honest truth in spite of itself.
The Last Journey follows Filip Hammar and his friend Fredrik Wikingsson, who commence a road trip with Filip’s father Lars Hammar. Worried about Lars’ loss of vitality and zest for life, his son Filip decides to recreate a roadtrip their family used to take from Sweden to a beach town in the south of France. Lars, a true Francophile, hopes to find himself on this journey again, but worries about whether he is healthy enough to make it.
The Last Journey is led by a famous Swedish TV duo, Filip and Frederick. Their mission, such as it is - to resurrect in some sense Filip’s father of old - is perhaps at the start of this movie extremely contrived.
And they never really let up on the concept of contrivance; it’s a film that seems obsessed with forcing this old, ailing man to do stuff for a film that can’t exist without his participation. At times, that makes this movie a tough watch; particularly as we watch Filip pushing and pushing his Dad.
At the same time, however, there are moments where this movie finds a deeply honest sense of authenticity that truly makes you feel, and often that is in moments that are actively in spite of its own attempts to create pathos. It’s not the big road trip that gets you, it’s a little dinner where Lars speaks about some of his favourite memories while struggling to eat and drink. It’s not the forced re-telling of a story, it’s Filip and Lars sitting watching an old soccer game together, crammed into undersized jerseys. It’s not the close-ups when Filip and Frederick orchestrate a fake fight in the street; it’s the big wide that shows Filip and Lars actually interacting and watching in earnest.
That speaks to something else that rings true about the film, which is its occasional bursts of authenticity. That’s not just in the story and dialogue, but also in the visuals. The film captures stunning landscapes, a gorgeous little orange car, and the beauty of a wonderful slice of French beachside, and it does so imperfectly in a way that belies its budget, but also sucks you in and makes everything feel real. Conversely, there are moments where the attempts to make this feel higher budget than it is - a 3D style map showing the journey, some crazy transitions - do the exact opposite.
In the end, The Last Journey is a real mixed bag. There are plenty of documentaries out there in this day and age, and few get the big screen treatment that this is getting. And there are plenty of problems here on display. The film often shoots itself in the foot, focussed on trying to drive something out of the audience and grasp on some big truth that it never achieves.
But despite the best efforts seemingly of the filmmakers, this movie does manage to frequently and effectively stumble into some big emotional truths that will make you feel big things. It does a great job of exploring the grief of aging and losing yourself, the joys in finding a new self, the struggles of old age, and the wondrous import of memories made. It does so in a frequently gorgeous way. You find yourself loving this movie, and at times tearing up over it, despite its flaws; and that feels like something very true.
