There’s a type of disappointment that comes from residing in a stressed state of FOMO — or worry of lacking out, because the acronym goes. The experiences you’d squander in case you didn’t present as much as an event, the subsequent track you wouldn’t hear in case you left a celebration too early and so forth. In Italian filmmaker Francesco Sossai’s loose-limbed and quietly enchanting sophomore characteristic “The Last One for the Road,” vigorous 50-somethings Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla) appear to have invented the proper treatment for FOMO by dishonest it perpetually. To those penniless and amiably drunken males, each boozy beverage is at all times the final one — actually, for actual this time, the final one — till the subsequent one which normally comes proper after. To them, the social gathering isn’t fairly over.
Fortunately, Carlobianchi and Doriano by no means come throughout as leachy, intoxicated creeps (the way in which hard-drinking older males like them may very well be in actual life) and there’s a storybook high quality to the duo’s tipsy and bickering friendship: It’s virtually like their bromance is marriage, Italian model. Their eternal merrymaking might sound heat and fuzzy at first look, however in reality, there’s a gloomy undercurrent to their existence, hiding simply beneath the floor. The olden days appear to have slipped away from them quickly. And the monetary disaster of 2008 has most likely been tough on them as a pair who burned by means of no matter money they possessed. If solely they might dig up the sizable chunk of cash that their outdated buddy buried someplace on the town earlier than he left for Argentina. Possibly they are going to in the future, proper after that final drink.
Written by Sossai and Adriano Candiago (and loosely born out of a few of their real-life experiences), “The Final One for the Highway” grasps its lead characters’ aging-related anxieties acutely and insightfully, amplified through the years you could be thought-about neither outdated nor younger, just like the ’70s-born Carlobianchi and Doriano. Unexpectedly, you notice that issues you might swear occurred about 10 years in the past are classic occasions of three a long time previous, and time slows down for nobody. So who might blame the 2 for desperately attempting to carry onto the current?
Whereas Sossai doesn’t precisely dwell on this disappointment, its refined presence nonetheless infuses his unassuming characteristic with a melancholic high quality, a wistful aura that brings to thoughts the fable-adjacent movies of Alice Rohrwacher. The soulful and aching ambiance of Rohrwacher’s movies is equally on the backdrop of Carlobianchi and Doriano’s escapades as they bar hop, change random tales (possibly actual, possibly made-up), share life recommendation with everybody of their orbit, narrowly escape the police like getaway drivers throughout modest but spectacular chase scenes and order that closing drink that shall be something however. On the background of their ceaseless journey is the fantastic Venetian plains, landscapes and settlements that appear to be caught in a transitionary house, like Carlobianchi and Doriano, someplace between city and pastoral.
The neatest factor any outdated(er) particular person might do is move on their earned knowledge to the younger. Whereas Carlobianchi and Doriano usually have a tough time remembering the teachings they’ve realized and revelations they landed on (they drink incessantly, in spite of everything), they do precisely that by taking underneath their wing the younger Giulio (Filippo Scotti), an structure pupil who’s adrift and intrigued.
Although extra agile and adventurous in its construction early on, “The Final One for the Highway” assumes a extra typical tone because the trio group up throughout a rowdy but innocent street journey. The reflective themes the movie has been taking part in with progressively reduce a contact too — it feels relatively trite when the film dedicates a major period of time to the older duo advising Giulio on ladies, ultimately enabling a hook-up for him. The assured smile the till then timid Giulio wears on his face in consequence is equally cliched.
Fantastically shot on movie inventory, “The Final One for the Highway” nonetheless has a lot to supply elsewhere, particularly in Sossai’s portrayal of various architectural constructions through the central trio’s street journey. Mansions and fashionable buildings alike enrich the characters’ impromptu and various itinerary, and a few impressed situations of creative flashbacks that braid collectively the previous and the current show filmmaking panache. In the meantime, the effortlessly off-the-cuff rhythms of the script recall Richard Linklater’s conversational movies with characters organically bonding and talking their thoughts. (A foolish statement about who may need invented shrimp cocktail is particularly humorous with a nostalgic wink on the ’90s.) When all of it begins feeling a bit repetitive, a touch of suspense lifts up the film with the trio teaming up for a petty con whereas sipping luscious daiquiris.
You don’t depart “The Final One for the Highway” with the sensation that you’ve seen one thing life-affirmingly unique. However there may be nonetheless a way of disarming consolation within the movie’s down-to-earth demeanor, and Giulio’s rewarding if predictable arc. In one of many film’s many casually paced scenes, Carlobianchi and Doriano have ice cream in a taste they didn’t intend to eat, anticipating a bitter style, however getting one thing candy as an alternative. Proper then, they may be speaking in regards to the aromas of their very own lives, however in reverse. And that’s the spirit of “The Final One for the Highway” in a nutshell: wanting to feed its viewers one thing candy when all else appears bitter.
