Living in a small village or town has its drawbacks. One of them is seeing things not go as expected, when little changes, or those you know leaving for new adventures. In the end, what’s left?
The Last People plunges us into a sleepy village where time feels suspended and every gesture carries weight. In elegant black and white, the film captures with precision the closed, familiar atmosphere of a small town — both stifling and strangely comforting. The characters’ almost motionless routines are contrasted by bursts of energy that light up the screen: cars doing donuts in an open field, fluorescent sneakers dancing to techno at dusk, nights at the same old bar to the sound of ’90s eurotrance. It’s a film that lives in the tension between the desire to leave and the inertia of staying — and leaves us pondering what happens when a once-assumed presence disappears, and the world’s quiet balance begins to tremble. (Cláudia Marques)
