As we wind down the summer, we turn our attention to the fall and all the heartbreaking emotional turmoil that comes from being a family member. It’s a club that people around the world gain entry to upon birth and one that makes for intense, serious-minded movies about what it takes to make a life with people you’re forced to hang out with.
One of the most prolific chroniclers of families is two parts into a trilogy about them. Last year (really), Florian Zeller led Anthony Hopkins to a surprise upset Oscar win with The Father. Hopkins ‘performance as an ailing dementia patient won him his second Oscar, beating out favorite Chadwick Boseman. butt, of course, Hopkins wasn’t the only one: Zeller and co-screenwriter Christopher Hampton also picked up Academy Awards for the first part of their trilogy.
The Last welcomes Hopkins back for some complicated family dynamics. some of Hollywood most talented family members are joining him, including Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, and newcomer Zen McGrath as the titular son. Here’s the synopsis:
A drama that follows a family as it struggles to reunite after falling apart. The Last centers on Peter (Jackman), whose hectic life with his infant and new partner Beth (Kirby) is upended when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) appears with their son Nicholas (McGrath), who is now a teenager. The young man has been missing from school for months and is troubled, distant, and angry. Peter strives to take care of Nicholas as he would have liked his own father to have taken care of him while juggling work, his and Beth’s new son, and the offer of his dream position in Washington. However, by reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto the Nicholas in the present.
Now, it doesn’t exactly look like this is the second part in The Father Cinematic Universe. This is more of a thematic link, so don’t expect too many Easter Eggs or post-credit scenes. Well, we think.
The Last opens in New York and Los Angeles on November 11.
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