Last Days in the Desert

Last Days in the Desert is an American drama film about the temptation of Christ, directed and written by Rodrigo García. It stars Ewan McGregor, Tye Sheridan, Ciarán Hinds and Ayelet Zurer. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2015, and began a limited theatrical release on May 13, 2016.[3]

Last Days in the Desert
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRodrigo García
Produced byBonnie Curtis
Julie Lynn
Wicks Walker
Written byRodrigo García
StarringEwan McGregor
Tye Sheridan
Ciarán Hinds
Ayelet Zurer
Music byDanny Bensi
Saunder Jurriaans
CinematographyEmmanuel Lubezki
Edited byMatt Maddox
Production
company
Division Films
Mockingbird Pictures
Ironwood Entertainment
Aspiration Media
American Zoetrope[1]
Distributed byBroad Green Pictures
Release date
  • January 25, 2015 (2015-01-25) (Sundance)
  • May 13, 2016 (2016-05-13) (United States)
  • Limited (Limited)
Running time
98 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Jesus walks through the desert, while stopping to pray and asking where God is. He encounters an old woman to whom he gives water, before noticing she has a snake tail, and she laughs at him.

Throughout the film, Satan appears to Jesus, adopting his appearance. He offers Jesus water, but he doesn't reply. Eventually Jesus finds a boy taking care of his mother in a tent. The boy is building a home with his father for him to live, although he wishes to go to Jerusalem. The mother is dying of an unspecified cause, since she can not eat. The father gives food to Jesus, but he refuses, saying he is fasting. Jesus leaves, but soon returns and works with them building the house, while he stays at his tent. Satan poses as the mother, wanting Jesus to believe that the boy is product of an infidelity.

Satan reveals to Jesus that he can see the future, and that the world is one more iteration of history, which God always tries again while changing some details. Satan reveals that whenever Jesus intervenes, he can not predict the outcome. Jesus asks Satan how it is to be in God's presence, and Satan explains an abstract feeling, while saying God has no face. Later, Satan adopts the figure of the naked mother, and tells Jesus that he is weak.

The boy develops a taste in inventing riddles, which Jesus enjoys. His father discovers a red rock (possibly ruby) in a cliff, and plans to lower the boy with ropes while he and Jesus hold him, so he can get it. The boy refuses, and the father attacks him. Jesus offers himself to be the one to descend, but the father does it, while Jesus and the boy hold him. The father falls and demands the rope to be cut. Jesus and the boy go to look for him, but he dies from his injuries.

Jesus returns with the body so the mother can see him. Jesus and the boy later find the body being burned. The boy gets some of his father's ashes, and his mother tells him to leave her. The boy leaves, and Jesus demands Satan to show him his destiny. Jesus watches it in a bowl of water, and smiles. He attempts to heal the mother, but she refuses. Jesus leaves to Jerusalem. In the way, Satan tells him that he's tired of walking, and that in his final moments he will offer Jesus help. He tells Jesus to say hello to God when he sees him.

The film jumps to Jesus' crucifixion. Dying, Jesus sees a Hummingbird in front of him. The apostles then bury Jesus' body, and stay outside of his tomb.

In the present day, two tourists take pictures in the same desert Jesus walked in.

Cast

Production

On February 1, 2014, the cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki told Deadline that he is going to work on a film in the desert with his friend Rodrigo García and Ewan McGregor. He said "It's a tiny little beautiful, extraordinary script that Rodrigo wrote that we’re going to shoot for five weeks."[4] On February 5, 2014 two actors, Ewan McGregor and Tye Sheridan, joined the film cast. McGregor plays the dual roles of a holy man and a demon.[5] The film is written and directed by Rodrigo García, while Division Films and Mockingbird Pictures produced the film.[5] Ayelet Zurer and Ciarán Hinds play the roles of Sheridan's character's parents.[6] The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.[7] The movie was shot at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in the Colorado Desert of Southern California.

The film was awarded the Dolby Family fellowship, a grant that allows filmmakers to finish their sound design and mix in Dolby Atmos.[8] Sound Designers and Re-recording mixers J.M. Davey and Zach Seivers completed the original sound design and mix as well as the Dolby Atmos remix. Skip Lievsay, who won the Academy Award for Best Sound for his work on Gravity, served as a mentor to Davey and Seivers for the Atmos remix.[9]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 77% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 6.69/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Last Days in the Desert offers enough stately grandeur and spiritual exploration to offset an occasionally ambiguous narrative."[10] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 67 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[11]

References

  1. "Last Days in the Desert". Cinefex. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  2. "Sundance Institute". Sundance. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  3. D'Alessandro, Anthony. "Broad Green Sets 2016 Dates For 'Infiltrator', 'Last Days In The Desert' & 'Dark Horse'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  4. Yamato, Jen (1 February 2014). "'Gravity's Emmanuel Lubezki Wins Feature Film Honor". Deadline. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  5. McClintock, Pamela (5 February 2014). "Ewan McGregor, Tye Sheridan Set to Star in 'Last Days in the Desert'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  6. "Ewan McGregor, Tye Sheridan on 'Last Days in the Desert'". Variety. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  7. Labrecque, Jeff (9 December 2014). "See Ewan McGregor as Jesus in Sundance exclusive". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  8. "Second Dolby Family Sound Fellowship goes to "Last Days in the Desert"". Dolby. January 20, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  9. Walden, Jennifer (2016). "Capturing, creating sounds for 'Last Days in the Desert'". postPerspective. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  10. "Last Days In The Desert (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  11. "Last Days in the Desert Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.