The Last September (2000)

Expends so much effort looking good and creating a dreamy atmosphere that its makers seem not to care about maintaining narrative coherence or building emotional resonance.

Absolutely dreadful -- boring, boring, boring.

Although intelligent, fails to truly grip the viewer.

Just moody and a bit messy. It could have been interesting and some of the actors made it worth checking out but it was pretty badly executed.

[font=Century Gothic]"The Last September" takes place in 1920 in Ireland, where Lois(Keeley Hawes) is coming of age as a member of the ruling Anglo-Irish ruling class while Ireland is gaining its independence. This is not good news as far as her family is concerned, considering they will probably have to soon vacate the premises but they are acting as if nothing is the matter. In fact, they invite their free-spirited relation, Marda(Fiona Shaw), for the weekend.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"The Last September" has little plot and concerns itself more with place and time setting the mood but the movie is too similar to "Rules of the Game" and "May Fools" for it to be successful. It wastes a very good cast which includes Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon and Jane Birkin.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]At the heart of the movie are issues of identity and class. The ruling class identifies themselves as Irish even though the native population disagrees and thinks of them as English.[/font]