This is an amazing film for several reasons. First is the presentation. The Last Kennedy tracks what could be any man. It doesn't take a huge star, big budget nor special effects to carry its message on a grassroots level. Second is the acting, excellent performances all around with Culver himself deserving an award for his final scene. Third the quality alone speaks for itself. Projected on the big screen this digital format is as good or better than 35mm. I highly recommend The Last Kennedy; it makes The Manchurian Candidate look like a walk in the park. Its message is powerful and well delivered, and it is highly deserving of domestic release.
2 Reviews
A story that is tough - hard to really give a rating to in a sense
ohdaesu-4503619 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
As I've gotten older, I 've started to feel a repulsion toward films that seem to solely aim to leave a miserable mark on one's psyche - when I was a kid, they had my fearful respect - yet in a way, these films, (often with some very powerful acting), cause to me to feel slightly broken, yet somehow softer, more gentle, and reflective, for days after the film. Examples would be 'Get Out', or 'Open Water', or 'The Exorcist' possibly - films that - have a good and bad, but they never really enter into the conscience of the baddies, nor show any possible moment of remorse, nor give the baddies any morally questionable yet somewhat plausible justification for their actions, and as such, never give the viewer any sense of hope.
I think in reality, actual people, who display these characteristics of the aforesaid baddies, rarely, rarely exist in the real world. Surely that is part of why the films are so disturbing, because we are given a rare glimpse at a unique yet utterly conscience-less psyche, that we have never come across in reality.
Shark movies can be 'forgiven', since they are dealing with so called pure animal predators, and they appeal to this killing instinct, and often manage to inject the viewers' minds with a deep sense of helplessness and dread.
It is almost even worse when humans are put in the place of predator. Even more so where they are not merely killing, but keeping things alive to cause suffering (think 'Oldboy', - but even there we are offered a morally bereft yet plausible explanation as to what motivated the bad guy.
I guess even in 'Get Out', there is a thin thread of explanation, but threads so thin that they leave us feeling worse off than had they provided no explanation.
So, in short, this film is very sad and very haunting and very disturbing. I watched it whilst watching Greek television. That was interesting they aired such a film, albeit very late at night, given Greece's tense and damming modern history with the FBI and the CIA.
Also I hope this film does not stimulate too much real historical questioning of past events, like presidential assassinations. I know these things happen, and as Tony Benn once asked, surely, in a democracy, the public should have a right to know even what the most 'secret organisations' are planning on doing.. But remember in today's age it is getting harder to see things clearly, note Alex Jones and Sandy Hook.
Many brutal organisations operate secretly and with immunity, and with the blessing of national governments. It is a very sad state of affairs for sections of the worlds' 'cultures' to have to be in such a state of mistrust. I am tempted to offer a socio-economic explanation for these organisations, but I think this film shows us we can also see it on a micro level, as the secretive nature living within the human psyche.
Sure, we all have secrets and we don't have to bare everything to simply anyone, that is sort of a right, sort of an inherent hint that most of us operate with a sort of social trust embedded. If we are betrayed in some way, some of that social trust is lost.
But unfortunately, some people feel the right to demand all of our private self, for many reasons - maybe they cannot fully trust people unless they know all, or maybe they want to use the information for control or emotional blackmail.
The film doesn't focus so much on the above mentioned psyche, which could represent an individual or an organisation, as it does represent an even less honourable psyche - one that literally fabricates lies and imposes them on another human being.
The film shows these two manipulative but different psyches working in tandem, to manipulate events to their liking, and in the process, destroy the psychological security and sense of trust and safety of many human beings.
It is not so much the murders in the film that are shocking, as it is the sheer traumatic tragedy of watching a human beings' foundations of reality and all they considered stable and what they treasured emotionally, to be shaken to the core and dismantled, intentionally, by forces that always evade them.
So in a way, this film is very much like having a bad high, where paranoia and mistrust set in, and in that regard, I would genuinely caution people of mistrusting dispositions to avoid this film and watch something that would strengthen their resolve and trust in people.
I do see the merits of watching such a film, just as one may see the merits in knowing that some nasty minds and organisations do actually exist.
I am not saying intelligence services do only morally questionable work, given the world we live in, but it is mafias, gangs, bullies, psychopaths, that also can at times, exhibit behaviour that most people would consider deeply unfair. But why stop at those groups ? Governments, and in fact all humans, can do things that we know are morally highly dubious. This film just highlights that aspect, to a very great extreme.
The only saving grace I picked up on (and I was desperately trying to find some hope during this film), was the references to JFK and Martin Luther King, and the passive overlaid speeches throughout, especially the one saying that you can kill a Man or a Mind, but not the Spirit or the Idea behind the Spirit. Oh and there was another saving grace - the coroner - and the daughter.
I have researched a little of Martin Luther King and I know he received a letter from secret groups urging him to commit suicide. I know also that Malcolm X felt it was not his own group that were watching him, as evidenced by the letter in his jacket pocket after he was shot.
These are all potent reminders in history.
I guess, I should say, that if one is being bullied, manipulated, oppressed, blackmailed, bullied, deceived, threatened, regularly, and you are not firing the same strategies back at theme, there is a high chance it is because you are standing up for something that they fear and cannot accept. In this age, I would suggest you look at their perspective carefully and in great detail, and appeal to their reason. If nothing else works, make a clean break - and don't fear them - most of the world is firmly on the side of tolerance, compromise, reason and fairness - most of us are slaves in some sense, with a great capacity for love and justice. Don't worry. There is no shame in admitting you are being manipulated or deceived or entrapped by someone, male or female, young or old. It can happen to any of us.
That was what I was saying the protagonist as we see him trying to break pit of his mental hypnotic drug induced fear paralysis. It was very sad to see. But I think anyone who has experienced those aspects of mental health including 'negative voices', will know that it is often hard to break free from their influence, and getting free may involve producing some pretty weird and unorthodox behaviour, which shame may block us from doing sometimes.
But there is always someone who will listen to you, who you can trust, who will support and side with your suffering and panic and confusion and unease, and, although it may not be at all visible or obvious now, things do, eventually, get easier, get a little clearer, and we end up wondering what all that fear and anxiety were about in the first place.
Anyway, that is it. This film made my soul cry a little, I can't really put merit to that, but I have met people who seem to be going through similar nightmarish mental incarceration in their mind, and it is very sad, and very hard to help them when it is severe.
This film is an expression of solidarity with anyone who suffers from deep trauma and deep mental health issues, a lot of who are homeless, and may have been in the military too.
Well done to the actors, who all played very tough roles in a very tough film.
Not many films compel me to give reviews, but I did this as part catharsis, and part acknowledgment to the creators that I saw their creation and how I am attempting to mentally digest it, since it is a difficult one.
I think in reality, actual people, who display these characteristics of the aforesaid baddies, rarely, rarely exist in the real world. Surely that is part of why the films are so disturbing, because we are given a rare glimpse at a unique yet utterly conscience-less psyche, that we have never come across in reality.
Shark movies can be 'forgiven', since they are dealing with so called pure animal predators, and they appeal to this killing instinct, and often manage to inject the viewers' minds with a deep sense of helplessness and dread.
It is almost even worse when humans are put in the place of predator. Even more so where they are not merely killing, but keeping things alive to cause suffering (think 'Oldboy', - but even there we are offered a morally bereft yet plausible explanation as to what motivated the bad guy.
I guess even in 'Get Out', there is a thin thread of explanation, but threads so thin that they leave us feeling worse off than had they provided no explanation.
So, in short, this film is very sad and very haunting and very disturbing. I watched it whilst watching Greek television. That was interesting they aired such a film, albeit very late at night, given Greece's tense and damming modern history with the FBI and the CIA.
Also I hope this film does not stimulate too much real historical questioning of past events, like presidential assassinations. I know these things happen, and as Tony Benn once asked, surely, in a democracy, the public should have a right to know even what the most 'secret organisations' are planning on doing.. But remember in today's age it is getting harder to see things clearly, note Alex Jones and Sandy Hook.
Many brutal organisations operate secretly and with immunity, and with the blessing of national governments. It is a very sad state of affairs for sections of the worlds' 'cultures' to have to be in such a state of mistrust. I am tempted to offer a socio-economic explanation for these organisations, but I think this film shows us we can also see it on a micro level, as the secretive nature living within the human psyche.
Sure, we all have secrets and we don't have to bare everything to simply anyone, that is sort of a right, sort of an inherent hint that most of us operate with a sort of social trust embedded. If we are betrayed in some way, some of that social trust is lost.
But unfortunately, some people feel the right to demand all of our private self, for many reasons - maybe they cannot fully trust people unless they know all, or maybe they want to use the information for control or emotional blackmail.
The film doesn't focus so much on the above mentioned psyche, which could represent an individual or an organisation, as it does represent an even less honourable psyche - one that literally fabricates lies and imposes them on another human being.
The film shows these two manipulative but different psyches working in tandem, to manipulate events to their liking, and in the process, destroy the psychological security and sense of trust and safety of many human beings.
It is not so much the murders in the film that are shocking, as it is the sheer traumatic tragedy of watching a human beings' foundations of reality and all they considered stable and what they treasured emotionally, to be shaken to the core and dismantled, intentionally, by forces that always evade them.
So in a way, this film is very much like having a bad high, where paranoia and mistrust set in, and in that regard, I would genuinely caution people of mistrusting dispositions to avoid this film and watch something that would strengthen their resolve and trust in people.
I do see the merits of watching such a film, just as one may see the merits in knowing that some nasty minds and organisations do actually exist.
I am not saying intelligence services do only morally questionable work, given the world we live in, but it is mafias, gangs, bullies, psychopaths, that also can at times, exhibit behaviour that most people would consider deeply unfair. But why stop at those groups ? Governments, and in fact all humans, can do things that we know are morally highly dubious. This film just highlights that aspect, to a very great extreme.
The only saving grace I picked up on (and I was desperately trying to find some hope during this film), was the references to JFK and Martin Luther King, and the passive overlaid speeches throughout, especially the one saying that you can kill a Man or a Mind, but not the Spirit or the Idea behind the Spirit. Oh and there was another saving grace - the coroner - and the daughter.
I have researched a little of Martin Luther King and I know he received a letter from secret groups urging him to commit suicide. I know also that Malcolm X felt it was not his own group that were watching him, as evidenced by the letter in his jacket pocket after he was shot.
These are all potent reminders in history.
I guess, I should say, that if one is being bullied, manipulated, oppressed, blackmailed, bullied, deceived, threatened, regularly, and you are not firing the same strategies back at theme, there is a high chance it is because you are standing up for something that they fear and cannot accept. In this age, I would suggest you look at their perspective carefully and in great detail, and appeal to their reason. If nothing else works, make a clean break - and don't fear them - most of the world is firmly on the side of tolerance, compromise, reason and fairness - most of us are slaves in some sense, with a great capacity for love and justice. Don't worry. There is no shame in admitting you are being manipulated or deceived or entrapped by someone, male or female, young or old. It can happen to any of us.
That was what I was saying the protagonist as we see him trying to break pit of his mental hypnotic drug induced fear paralysis. It was very sad to see. But I think anyone who has experienced those aspects of mental health including 'negative voices', will know that it is often hard to break free from their influence, and getting free may involve producing some pretty weird and unorthodox behaviour, which shame may block us from doing sometimes.
But there is always someone who will listen to you, who you can trust, who will support and side with your suffering and panic and confusion and unease, and, although it may not be at all visible or obvious now, things do, eventually, get easier, get a little clearer, and we end up wondering what all that fear and anxiety were about in the first place.
Anyway, that is it. This film made my soul cry a little, I can't really put merit to that, but I have met people who seem to be going through similar nightmarish mental incarceration in their mind, and it is very sad, and very hard to help them when it is severe.
This film is an expression of solidarity with anyone who suffers from deep trauma and deep mental health issues, a lot of who are homeless, and may have been in the military too.
Well done to the actors, who all played very tough roles in a very tough film.
Not many films compel me to give reviews, but I did this as part catharsis, and part acknowledgment to the creators that I saw their creation and how I am attempting to mentally digest it, since it is a difficult one.
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