The Last Film Show (2021 | India | 112 | Pan Nalin)
Fascinated from the moment light hit the screen, young Samay is hooked on moving pictures. A strict father insisting the film industry is made up of sleaze and nothing else, the precocious nine-year-old is even more drawn in. Skipping school to watch everything he can get his eyes on, he befriends the man running the projector at his local movie house and learns anything and everything there is to know about splicing and reels, soaking it up like dry dirt on a rainy day. Along with his buddies, he hatches a plan to create his own “movie house” in an abandoned building on the edge of town, but causes some trouble along the way that catches his father’s wrath more than once. Undeterred, Samay always finds a way back to the movies, hoping and dreaming of a way out into the big world to make his own.
Truly the only complaint I have about this heart-swelling, sweet, and well-developed film is the length. It definitely had moments that could have been cut down (ironically unlike the hefty slicing Samay did to many of the films he helped show at the movie house) but even that didn’t cause much distress. The way the director pulled you into the story experiencing a “day in the life” first, then introducing the dramatic tension that the young lead’s obsession with film brought, kept you in the moment. Able to submerse ourselves in the story rather than feeling like we’re outside of it looking in, you can’t help but be swept away. The tireless energy he found to go after what he wanted despite his family brought back what it was like to discover your first love, not in a person but in something you do for yourself. As life tends to drag you down and find ways of forcing you to live within the bounds of the “real world” (mostly because of money), it was joyous and beautiful to feel that excitement again through Samay’s eyes.
The Last Film Show was shown at the Mill Valley Film Fest both in person and virtually. As of right now, it’s not set to stream anywhere else but was also at Tribeca Film Fest so keep your eyes peeled at upcoming festivals.