Includes some spoilers.
Last Orders is a marvellous 2001 ensemble UK film directed by Fred Schepisi based on Graham Swift’s original novel. It is also a remarkable film about the effects of death on three close drinking buddies, the deceased’s wife, and his adopted son.
Michael Caine plays the dead Jack, only seen via memories of various characters. It should be pointed out that the main characters are also acted by themselves made up to look younger and by other young actors. The movie, then, is a vertical film, moving vertically back and forth through time between the past and present. It is also about the effects that time and conflicts have on these characters.
What is most interesting are the individual characters and their own stories as they relate to Jack’s life. Helen Mirren poignantly plays a once-beautiful, other-centered, frustrated housewife who loved Jack anyway and didn’t reject their mentally retarded adult daughter as did her husband.
Ray Winstone is their son, but we eventually, as he does also, find out that he was kindly adopted by the above couple. His mixed feelings about his Da’ are finally, though, more motivated by gratitude and appreciation.
The late Bob Hoskins comes close to stealing the show as Ray, Jack’s old army buddy, who secretly loved Jack’s wife and gave her, perhaps, the only marital freedom she needed, enjoyed, and valued. Ray is also Jack’s most loyal friend and proves it by winning a longshot horse race to help Jack clear his remaining deaths. There are some twists with the fate of the race pot and money Jack’s son has loaned his father on his deathbed.
The late David Hemmings of Blow-up fame looks remarkably aged and plays a bitter, but loyal alcoholic-friend of Jack. His physical energy and guilt are palpable throughout the movie and give the car ride a lot of pent-up anger.
Tom Courtenay, the most successful of the buddies is an undertaker with a wry sense of humor who knows the film’s main secret as it turns out. Like the other veterans in the cast, he shines and plays a key role in keeping the buddies’ odyssey going to Margate Pier where Jack ‘s remains are to be laid to rest.
I cannot say enough good things about the plot, the individual conflicts and disagreements, the quality of the writing, the handling of local color UK elements, and the many interesting shifts back and forth in time from character to character.
Only the odd, unconventional music might have been second-guessed, but its oddness underlies the unusualness of the script. Viewers who typically have trouble with or don’t like British accents would probably not last too long with this movie, but for those who persevere, the thoughtfulness and insights are more than well-worth the hanging in.
Last Orders is a moving, unflinchingly honest labor-of-love with all the camaraderie as well as good and bad times realistically included. If you’re a fan of the main cast’s actor, this is simply one small classic that you mustcheck out. Enjoy!
