Product Description

Tanya (Dina Korzun), a vulnerable and naive young Russian, arrives at Gatwick airport with her 10 year old son Artiom (Artiom Strelnikov) to meet her English fiancé. But when he fails to show up, a distraught Tanya claims political asylum and finds herself virtually imprisoned in a nightmarish refugee holding centre in a lonely seaside resort. Desperate to escape, Tanya forges an unlikely alliance with amusement arcade manager Alfie (Paddy Considine), which soon develops into something more. But is he just another man who will let her down, or will Tanya and Artiom finally break free? Pawel Pawlikowski's critically acclaimed, award winning film is an affecting and poetic love story, featuring hauntingly beautiful photography and sensitive naturalistic performances from an excellent cast.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7572 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-07-30
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Russian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 75 minutes

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
Region 0
Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Dolby Digital 2.0
Directors Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Filmography
Theatrical Trailer

Synopsis
LAST RESORT, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, tells the story of a young Russian woman who travels to an unfamiliar country to reunite with her fiance, but instead finds herself in the midst of a waking nightmare. When Tanya (Dina Korzun) lands in England along with her 10-year-old son, Artiom (Artiom Strelnikov), she is crushed to discover that her soon-to-be-husband is nowhere to be found. Confused and ignorant, she naively asks the government for asylum and becomes a refugee in a dead-end coastal resort that is full of bewildered immigrants like her. Unfortunately, by the time she realizes that she's made a mistake, bureaucratic paperwork has already ensured that she must stay locked inside the walls of the barren dumping grounds for an indefinite period. Struggling to make ends meet, Tanya befriends a charming arcade manager, Alfie (Paddy Considine), while Artiom learns the ins and outs of vandalism. When it finally becomes clear to Tanya that she is only setting herself up for another heartbreak, she is forced to make a difficult decision that will affect the lives of everyone involved. Pawlikowski's bittersweet, inspiring love story, which blends documentary techniques with a dreamlike atmosphere, features a mesmerizing performance from the luminous Korzun.

Customer Reviews

The best media representation of asylum seekers yet
The Last Resort (2000) is directed by Polish-born Pawel Pavilowski and commissioned by the BBC. Filmed in Margate (fictionally called Stonehaven) charts the experiences of a Russian refugee Tanya and her son Artyom. From Heathrow they are transferred to Stonehaven, a fictional holding bay for asylum seekers. They make many failed attempts to head for London for Tanya to meet her supposed fiance and instead Tanya falls in love with a local amusement park businessman (whose name actually escapes me). In a desperate bid to financially support herself, she turns to local pornographer (again his name escapes me), who is excellently played by real life pornographer Ben Dover.

The film is more constructed as a love story than a political statement, but that's not to say the film is politics free. It is associated with the current hysteria over asylum and immigration, and the use of juddery camera work and it's bleak mise-en-scene makes it socially real experience.

the back-up cast are played by real-life asylum seekers and refugees of mainly Kosovan or Afghan dissent, again social realism comes through the documentarism. Also the presence of the asylum seekers is symbolised by Tanya being demonstrated on how to use a payphone.

The film generally is a wonderful experience and a real cinematic experience. The film is more plot led and in the end you feel sympathetic towards her plight.

If there is one film that the Tory party and Labour party would not recommend, then Last Resort is the film. Best art-house film this year.

Beautiful
Fantastically shot.Brilliantly acted.This a beautiful film.Essentialy a romance, set in a depressing seaside village, between an amusment arcade manager and a russian, who accomponied with her 10 year old son he befriends and helps to escape home, after she has been sent to an asylum seekers holding area."It makes me wanna cry".OUTSTANDING.

An exploration of the world of asylum seekers
Although it is definitely a drama this film blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction, apparently a characteristic of Pawlikowski's direction.

Tanya (Dina Korzun) travels to England from Russia with her 10 year old son Artyom (Strelnikov) to marry her Fiancée who doesn't turn up and leaves her stranded and forced to become a refugee.

In the first part of the film we get right inside Tanya's fears and sense of alienation as she struggles with her role as a confined refugee, this is beautifully acted by Korzun and Strelnikov and if the film had continued on this course it would have been superb.

However once Anya is befriended by Alfie (a fine performance by Considine) the drama degenerates into a standard pulp fiction love story and although well directed and acted moves away from the trauma of being an asylum seeker. Also Artyom is supposed to be 10 years old but his dialogue is far to old for his age, even a perceptive ten year old would not automatically recognise someone as a pimp when his mother apparently did not make the connection.

However this film certainly made me think about the experiences of asylum seekers and the way they can be exploited whilst within the system, their sense of despair when any resolution to their problems is six to eighteen months away, unfortunately it did not keep me thinking long and hard enough.