The Last Photograph

Danny Huston gives an unjustly overlooked performance in a film which he directed himself.

Danny Huston

As a member of the Huston family, Danny Huston despite his busy career is somebody who has been overshadowed by both his half-sister, Angelica, and his father, John. He probably received his highest acclaim in 2000 when he starred in Ivansxtc while as a director he is best known for Mr North (1988) although he did have Paul Scofield as his star in the earlier Mister Corbett's Ghost, made for television. When it comes to The Last Photograph he is both director and lead actor, but it was completed in 2017 and is only now getting a release here. That feels unjust because although it is a small and intimate drama it is a striking work. What makes it particularly haunting is the fact that it contains what I would regard as Danny Huston's best performance and it is a piece in which he is absolutely central.

This key role which Huston inhabits absolutely is that of Tom Hammond and the film is a quiet study of grief and loneliness. Hammond is a widower who had been close to his son Luke (Jonah Hauer-King) and their rapport is admirably suggested from the start (the film opens with black and white footage which shows them together in London in 1988). But Luke had fallen for an American girl (Stacy Martin) and, when we see Tom Hammond again, the film has moved on to 2003 and we find him running a small book store in Chelsea. The film is now in colour but we quickly realise that Tom is a loner. He does have a best friend (Vincent Regan) and a friendly neighbour (Sarita Choudhury) yet it is clear that he is a man on his own who lives in the past. Indeed, the days now gone so dominate Tom's thoughts that the film reflects what is in his head by continually switching back and forth between past and present.

There is no early disclosure in the film as to what happened on the day that most haunts Tom Hammond although in time this is revealed. In point of fact it is a real-life event that is drawn on here, but I will respect the structure of the film by not identifying it. What can usefully be stressed here is that Simon Astaire, adapting his own novel, shares with Huston an approach that is sensitive and subtle. A story that could easily have become both melodramatic and sentimental totally avoids those traps. It is less damaging matters that render this less than a masterpiece (one feels a touch of uncertainty in the handling of the final scene and, well directed though it is, it could well be thought that Huston is a little too indulgent over the amount of cutting between past and present). Nevertheless, the degree of feeling communicated through Huston's deeply interior performance anchors the film in a remarkable way and, in a good supporting cast, Jonah Hauer-King stands out and ensures that the father/son relationship is finely realised by both players. The dedication at the film's close refers to the real-life incident central to the film and it feels absolutely sincere. However, the sense of emotional truth at the heart of this work is not limited to that and resonates on a wider basis. The Last Photograph is indeed a small-scale piece, but that does not prevent it from being memorable.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Danny Huston, Sarita Choudhury, Stacy Martin, Jonah Hauer-King, Vincent Regan, Michelle Ryan, Jamie Winstone, Al Weaving, Immy Waterhouse, Dominic Cazenove, Jay Villiers, Ollie Villiers.

Dir Danny Huston, Pro Simon Astaire, Farah Abushwesha and Cat Villiers, Screenplay Simon Astaire, from his novel, Ph Ed Rutherford, Pro Des Greg Shaw, Ed Francisco Forbes, Music Peter Raeburn, Costumes Elizabeth Healy.

The Works International/The Last Photograph/Autonomous-Sparky Pictures.
85 mins. UK. 2017. Rel: 26 April 2021. Available on VOD. Cert.12.