For this week’s Pick of The Week, we get the incredible film The Last Light. Released in 2017, this piece features the stellar work of Angelita Mendoza, who co-wrote the film with Victor Capiz, and also directed the film. Starring in this wonderful piece are Izabella Limon and Dante Montenegro Burgos, who really bring so much to this story with their performances.
The story focuses on Izabella, a girl who finds something disturbing on the land owned by her family. Shortly after the disappearance of her cousin, young Izabella follows a family pet out onto the land where she finds a finds a small boy on her property, tied up in an offshoot of the family land. In an effort to help find her cousin, she makes an attempt to enlist the young boy’s help, with the caveat that she releases him from his restraints and frees him from the situation he’s in.
This kind of story is an uncomfortable one, but one that is not to be shied away from. While the slow, tense tone of this film builds to some very disturbing revelations it was very interesting to see it unfold. The cast brought a lot to the story as well, with the innocence of Izabella, the quiet pathos of the boy, and the grief of of the family all shining brightly throughout the dark film.
The juxtaposition of the accusations that follow this boy as he’s tied up and held captive on the property to what may have actually happened are interesting. As some plead for his release, given his age and what has been levied against him, there are those who believe he needs to tell the truth about what happened to the cousin, by any means necessary. It’s a bad situation regardless, as one would mean this boy could have done some dark deeds, while the other would reveal the overreaction by the adults in the room to his potential involvement.
This film was enjoyable not for the content, but for the way it was presented. Giving light to dark situations can be difficult or uncomfortable, but this film manages to deliver the story with at least some kind of nuance. It doesn’t shy away from its content, but shows the complexity of what happens when harmful events occur, and people are forced to deal with them in the best way they see fit at that moment.
Mendoza is a brilliant director, with some truly impressive shots throughout the film. The choice of angle and how this story is displayed is very important, and Mendoza did an excellent job showing the pathos and giving each shot what it deserved.
It’s no wonder why this was the choice for Pick of the Week, as this film does so much with a short runtime. It doesn’t need much more than that, though, expertly giving us a deep, uncomfortable story in a short time, but making use out of every moment. It’s an excellent film, dark and mysterious, and absolutely worth the watch, which can be done only on BitPix.
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