Last Breath
Solid performances, tech specs buoy dry procedural.
Film Yap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
I never saw Richard de Costa and Alex Parkinson’s 2019 documentary “Last Breath” despite wanting to do so. Parkinson has since gone on to direct a feature film version by the same name, which is now playing in theaters.
Good-natured newcomer Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), seasoned veteran Duncan Allock (Woody Harrelson) and heated hotshot Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu) are divers doing repairs to a pipeline at the bottom of the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. They’re supported by the Bibby Topaz captained by Andre Jenson (Cliff Curtis) and receive orders from their supervisor Craig Frederick (Mark Bonnar) who’s also aboard the ship.
Chris has a fiancée named Morag (Bobby Rainsbury) back on shore who has concerns over his dangerous vocation. Dave has two young daughters, but warns Chris that they must focus solely on work while diving. Duncan, who’s on the cusp of being retired by corporate, appears to be married to the job.
Suffice it to say something goes wrong (a freak accident for which nobody’s at fault) and one of the divers gets stuck in the deep. The structure of the picture shows us how these guys work and live and then depicts the means by which they save one of their own whilst racing against a ticking clock. It’s very much a procedural portraying people who are proficient at their profession doing the damned thing. For a movie this wet it’s admittedly fairly dry.
Cole, Harrelson, Liu and Bonnar all give really good performances that anchor the proceedings. Curtis is an actor I’ve long admired dating back to the late 1990s and early aughts in movies such as “Three Kings” and “Blow” and he does a lot with a little, but he’s not given nearly enough to do. Parkinson’s got a thoroughbred here. He needed to let him run.
The movie is well-shot by Nick Remy Matthews (he lensed last year’s “I.S.S.”) especially in its prevalent underwater segments so big ups to Ian Seabrook (Director of Photography: Scotland/Underwater Director of Photography), Matt Wesson (First Assistant Camera: A camera: Scotland / underwater first assistant camera), Ben Parish (Underwater Housing Technician) and underwater electricians Dave Booys and Christopher B. Broomfield as well.
I liked “Last Breath” well enough that I do feel a need to backtrack and catch up with the doc at some point (it’s currently available on Hoopla). Dry though the proceedings might’ve been, I was ultimately moved by the picture’s conclusion. I suspect its primary performances and tech specs will stick with me.