Why "The Last Straw" with Bill Murray is worth watching

True, one should not expect the same deep emotions from the film as it was in the case of Lost in Translation. This movie is about simple relationships. And Coppola is not trying to convey any important truth to the viewer. She only introduces charming characters and helps to think about the problems in communicating with loved ones.

Personal history of the famous author

Laura (Rashida Jones) is happily married to Dean (Marlon Wayans): they have two daughters, her husband is engaged in serious business, and the heroine herself writes a book and takes care of the children. But after another business trip, Laura's wife begins to notice that he has somehow changed: he is often distracted, talks a lot about his beautiful assistant and seems to be hiding something.

Unable to get the suspicions out of her head, she calls her father Felix (Bill Murray). Only that is not the best advisor. An elderly bon vivant, revolving in the highest circles of society, cannot refrain from flirting not only with his clients, but even with waitresses.

Of course, Felix convinces his daughter that Dean is cheating on her, flies from Paris to New York and organizes surveillance of the allegedly unfaithful spouse. And this is what allows Laura to communicate normally with her father for the first time in a long time.

Bill Murray and Rashida Jones in The Last Straw

It has long been clear that Sofia Coppola is best at talking not about some grandiose events, but about the everyday problems of ordinary people. And the story is even more catchy when hints of the director's own biography slip through the plot. For example, in Lost in Translation, the author wrote off one of the minor characters from her husband, and in the personality of Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson, she put a lot of her own experiences.

In The Last Stroke, this technique is even more obvious. Moreover, Rashida Jones even looks like Coppola. They are connected by their joint work in "A Very Murray Christmas." The director told Sofia Coppola reveals Rashida Jones' sweet connection to Lost in Translation that it was Jones who first played the role in the acting classes, which was later played by Johansson in Lost in Translation.

Plus, The Last Stroke reveals the problems of creative professions, combining work with raising children and the difficulties of communicating with the father. Too much overlap with Sofia Coppola's life to be a coincidence. Perhaps that is why the film, for all its simplicity, turned out to be so sincere and touching.

Marlon Wayans and Rashida Jones in The Last Straw

The director is not trying to confuse the viewer. All the turns and the denouement are completely clear at most from the middle of the action. But The Last Straw is not worth watching for intrigue. This is a very unhurried picture, where the atmosphere itself and the conversations of the characters are much more important than some kind of action.

The trap of everyday life

At first, it may seem that Coppola is dedicating the story exclusively to Laura. Being a creative person, she completely immersed herself in everyday problems and simply lost herself. The constant screams of children, endless fuss and the need to look for a nanny to leave the house completely kill any spontaneity in her life. To top it off, an obsessive friend often appears next to the heroine, who talks about her unhappy love. It's like a separate series with a very predictable and stupid denouement.

But in fact, the problem of everyday life has engulfed not only Laura. Oddly enough, her father turns out to be exactly the same hostage to his position. He is already so used to flirting with all the women he meets that he does it almost mechanically. And in the end, even his daughter is regularly mistaken for a new girlfriend. And it seems that Felix is enjoying his luxurious life, but in some of the hero's phrases, melancholy slips through.

More importantly, Felix is used to judging others by his actions, and he doesn't even have doubts about Dean's infidelity. The man gives dozens of examples from the animal world, explaining the polygamy of males. But in fact, he simply does not imagine that someone can behave differently than himself.

Against the backdrop of flamboyant Laura and Felix, it's easy to overlook Dean's problem. A person tries so hard to give his loved ones the best that he can lose them due to eternal employment. Many families are likely to face this paradox, regardless of status and social level.

Kind but lonely heroes

Perhaps the most important advantage of "The Last Drop" is that there is not a single negative character in the film. Moreover, Coppola deliberately makes the viewer not like one or the other hero, and then reveals them in such a way that everyone wants to hug.

At first, you might think that the plot will be about tracking down the unfaithful spouse. But Dean is not the villain of this story, but simply a victim of circumstance or even coincidence. And, by the way, Marlon Wayans, whom everyone is accustomed to seeing exclusively in parody madness like "Don't threaten South Central …" or "Scary Movie", turns out to be able to play melodramatic and very warm roles.

Then it's Bill Murray's turn. His Felix is a typical bad father, whom both his daughter and even more so granddaughters love. The actor has appeared in the image of a womanizer in the crisis more than once: it is enough to remember at least "Groundhog Day", at least "Broken Flowers" by Jim Jarmusch, at least all the same "Lost in Translation". But neither he nor the director can simply be accused of being secondary - this role suits Murray so much.

Now the actor plays as relaxed as possible, as if he accidentally entered the set, where he was allowed to make stupid jokes with an absolutely serious face and even whistle. This fits perfectly into the image of Felix, who seems to be in the spotlight all his life, knows the fathers of all the police officers he meets, and chooses an “inconspicuous” red convertible for night surveillance.

Murray falls in love with himself at the first appearance in the frame, and this is another reason to watch The Last Stroke. And only for a moment it may seem that Felix is the only negative character in the picture: a father who abandoned his family, and when they meet again, he does not listen to Laura at all and constantly pushes her to stupid actions and negative emotions. But no, this is also cheating. Felix just has the opportunity to get closer with his daughter, to talk about what he has kept in himself for many years, and also get a little more warmth.

“Lost in Translation” was not about romance at all, but about loneliness and loss in the bustle of the metropolis, and “Last straw” is all about the same loneliness. Which can be felt even by a person surrounded by loving loved ones.

The beauty of the city and beyond

It is simply impossible not to mention that Sofia Coppola is almost the only director who can squeeze Woody Allen in expressing his love for New York.

The city in "The Last Drop" creates the whole atmosphere. Coppola's New York City is filled with jazz and industrial buzz. The restaurant here is not just a beautiful establishment, but a place from an old cinema. In this picture there is a volume that is so necessary for immersion in history: against the background, something is always happening, moving, buzzing. This is a living organism, not decorations.

Moreover, it cannot be said that the film was filmed somehow aesthetically. There are almost no deliberately beautiful shots here - except perhaps for tears falling into a martini glass. The camera is very often static, it just snatches out the best angles: spiral staircases, art galleries, night streets.

"The last straw" creates a feeling of retrokino, although the action takes place in modern times. But these soft tones, long shots and slow pace seem to come from romantic films of the past. And the scene with night surveillance in the car resembles Allen's style: there is a lot of irony, deliberate beauty on the verge of grotesque, and even a slight posturing of the characters.

All this creates a feeling of a slightly artificial, but very pleasant and bright world that you want to admire again and again.

Perhaps the "Last straw" will disappoint someone with its sheer and even deliberate simplicity. This is the most naive story. The viewer does not even for a second have doubts about the happy ending, and the director does not even try to surprise anyone. And it's even good that the picture comes out immediately on streaming, it can hardly be called a "big movie".

But such warm ribbons are also necessary, and even more so in the fall and in difficult times. They simply remind that parents, children and husbands are not enemies to each other and that problems should always be discussed. And just fooling around with a loved one also does not hurt. After watching The Last Drop, you want to immediately hug your loved ones. And this means that the picture was a success.