THE LAST STATION BluRay review
Michael Hoffman's The Last Station is a great example of the kind of Hollywood production that frustrates for what it could have been. Adapted from Jay Parini's fictional biography of the last days of Tolstoy, the venerated Russian novelist famous for writing Anna Karenina and War and Peace, it's a handsomely mounted period piece with a talented cast. It means well, it's more than watchable and definitely stands up to repeat viewing. But it's so intent on not committing to any deeper exploration of Tolstoy's life and work it ends up feeling annoyingly vacant, reducing decades of radical thought and political criticism to a general riff on 'life goes on'.
The film gets under way with Tolstoy's faithful secretary Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti, Cold Souls, Shoot 'Em Up, The Illusionist) under house arrest for his master's outspoken views on the state's abuses of power. He hires wide-eyed acolyte Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy, Wanted, Atonement) to follow Tolstoy around in his stead (Christopher Plummer, 9, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Up). Tolstoy's adherence to an ascetic lifestyle - preaching rejection of material possessions and condemning private property - led to frequent bitter arguments with his wife the Countess Sophia (Helen Mirren, State of Play, The Queen), who saw her husband's beliefs as a rejection of everything she gave him in the early years of their relationship.
Chertkov wants Valentin to ensure Tolstoy signs the permanent copyright on his entire body of work over to the Russian people, rather than his wife. Naturally, this proves less than straightforward once the young man gets to see his idol's failing health, self-doubt and conflicted loyalties up close.
All of this is framed in the broadest possible way. Hoffman's screenplay is as vanilla as they come, touching on the key points of the dispute - Tolstoy's respect for the peasant classes, his persecution by the Tsarist authorities, the school he established to try and spread his teachings, the ruin of his marriage - but rarely giving any of them more than a few lines of exposition.
The narrative is pitched as Valentin's slow realisation that it's the spirit of the message that counts rather than following it to the letter - an epiphany gained through his falling in love with the feisty Masha (Kerry Condon, Rome, Danny the Dog), a dissatisfied member of the school attracted to Valentin's virginal naivete. But it steadfastly avoids suggesting either this was the sort of thing Tolstoy secretly believed or that he was too dedicated to his cause to realise it.
While there are frequent confrontations, Tolstoy tugged back and forth between his wife and Chertkov, none of them ever amount to taking a stand beyond the obvious idea this is making everyone involved very unhappy. The Countess mocks Tolstoy's devotion to the peasantry, but we never see anything that either supports or criticises this. She vilifies Chertkov as a parasite, but he barely gets to say anything beyond repeating his motivation over and over in little more than generalities.
Yet at the same time The Last Station still manages to be entertaining. The pivotal device of contrasting one fading relationship with another tentatively getting started may arguably be a platitude, but it's a surprisingly affecting one nonetheless. While the script largely trades in pat soundbites it does have its moments, it's never self-absorbed and the cast do their level best to sell even the most banal lines.
The women come off best. McAvoy is an appealing protagonist, but plays starry idealism a little too broadly, and Plummer has presence and gravitas but struggles to overcome the lack of any real substance to his role, as if uncomfortable with all the melodrama delivered in raised voices. By contrast Helen Mirren does far better at internalising the distress that stems from being torn between extremes; an Oscar nomination for her performance was perhaps pushing it, but her outbursts of grief and frustration are effective as far more than heated displays of passion. Kerry Condon also makes a far greater impression than her part first seems to allow for, giving a potentially throwaway character an inner life that makes her feel much more than just an archetype.
But the film only consistently comes alive in the final twenty minute stretch, particularly when Valentin finally upbraids Chertkov over his dogged refusal to allow the Countess to attend the dying Tolstoy. While their confrontation still avoids specifics both McAvoy and Giamatti hint at how The Last Station could have been a great film under different circumstances, rather than just a good one - both men barely suppressing their emotions, each of them desperate to convey how wrong they feel the other is but unable to articulate it. It's the kind of commitment the rest of the film could definitely have benefited from.
The disc:
Optimum Home Entertainment's UK BluRay - available to buy from June 21st - gives The Last Station a solid release. The picture is a little soft, with some grain and lack of clarity in the deeper blacks, but for the most part it presents what is a technically accomplished production with a warm, pastoral aesthetic very well. The basic stereo track - 5.1 DTS is also included - won't test anyone's speakers but it is clear and distinct, with dialogue, effects and score coming across as crisp and balanced. English subtitles are large and clear, with only one or two very minor spelling or grammatical errors. Menus are well designed, elegant without being fussy and easy to navigate.
While there are only a few extras and all are presented in standard definition, they are surprisingly substantial. 'Conversations on The Last Station' is a forty-five minute making of feature which covers the cast, the crew, Jay Parini and even an unnamed 'relative of Tolstoy'. It is fairly self-promoting, yet never descends entirely into EPK fluff and does manage to touch on several interesting points, criticises Tolstoy's failings as much as it praises him, and includes some deleted footage that doesn't appear in the film.
'Interview with Director Michael Hoffman' is exactly what it says; another three-quarters of an hour of the director talking to an unseen interviewer with questions delivered via title card. While it covers some of the same ground as the making of, and is generally fairly breezily upbeat, Hoffman is eloquent and articulate, discussing his preparation, his technique and thoughts on Parini's novel and its subjects. Both these extras have appropriate chapter stops, though neither has any subtitles. Third and last is the original theatrical trailer, which is fairly well put together - it shows many of the later scenes but doesn't explicitly give anything away - yet suffers from the kind of voiceover more suited to a romantic comedy.
The Last
Station never quite manages to become anything entirely distinctive
or truly thought-provoking and considering its potential this has to
rate as something of a disappointment. But it is still a polished,
winning period piece with some memorable moments, delivered by a
talented cast who convey much more emotion through their performances
than the material would suggest. Optimum's BluRay release gives the
film a worthy presentation in high-definition and comes very much
recommended.
(Thanks go to Optimum Home Entertainment for facilitating this BluRay review.)
