THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Danny Huston (15, 85 mins)
Touching drama with a superb central performance from Danny Huston. A puzzlingly long delayed release for this haunting film made back in 2017, this adaptation of Simon Astaire’s novel follows Huston’s distracted and numb Tom Hammond as he wrestles with a private grief. Unrolling through flashbacks and dreamlike imagery, the reason why Huston is so broken is gradually revealed.
Black and white flashbacks with his son Luke (Jonah Hauer-King) mingle with colourful, happy dinner parties and a woman running through a park, apparently pursued by someone. Huston, who also directs, keeps the narrative threads dangling, until a reveal that he is a father who has lost his son, and with that his joie de vivre. The son had been on flight Pan Am 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in 1988 in an act of international terrorism; 15 years on, he clings to the last photograph he had of his boy. When this photograph is stolen by a pair of opportunist thieves, his world disintegrates – the talisman that was his anchor amidst despair gone.
Huston does an excellent job of conveying a man who has tried to shut down: flashing with rage and frustration, lashing out at the café owner opposite his bookshop, played by a spikey but empathetic Sarita Choudhury. The missing photograph also forces a reconnection with his son’s New York-based girlfriend played by Stacy Martin. His son was flying out to visit her – she was the reason he was on that flight – and she also is riddled with guilt.
Meditative, moving and powerful, The Last Photograph’s specific, singular tale of grief unsettles and grips. Obviously shot on a shoestring, Huston (son of legendary director John Huston, known for The Man Who Would Be King) has always been an excellent character actor, with only an occasional foray into directing. This illustrates that he should direct more often: a low key, touching gem.
Released via digital platforms on Mon 26 Apr
words KEIRON SELF