Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) is an obsessive-compulsive librarian tired of his life in Bangkok. After his latest suicide attempt results in a series of tragic events, Kenji is forced to team with Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak). Noi is his opposite: streetwise, pot smoking, and a slob. Together they slowly open up to each other and discover new possibilities.
Last Life in the Universe is certainly bleak. The colors are almost always slanted toward depressive blues. The ominous ring of a phone becomes the harbinger of dark, unavoidable circumstances. Our protagonist’s mindset is easy to understand. He’s not likeable in the traditional sense but we can relate to him as a guy trying to do right. Noi is a contrasting spirit, so together the characters make welcome conflict. Character development is downplayed, and graduated in a way that is realistic as the two grow to depend on one another.
Initially confusing with its seemingly backtracking sequences, Last Life in the Universe takes the viewer a few minutes to adjust. It may even hold the record for latest title card, around 30 minutes into the film. When a major event occurs you can never be sure that it happened since there is no obvious transition between established reality and dreams or visions. Director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang plays the film on the premise that less is more. Off camera violence makes for more drama; the closing of a montage (and in one case clever visual effects applied to housecleaning) brings the viewer to read actions in an untraditional manner. It’s refreshing cinema for the jaundice eyes of a westerner.
The art of the reveal is intriguing and sensible, maybe even truly surprising. The downtrodden beat of the film isn’t anything to get excited over nor will the dialogue astonish, but Last Life in the Universe can hold your attention. Not an outright puzzle of a film, Ratanaruang does ask of an observant viewer. Since there is confusion over the film’s ending, I’m going to follow my review with my interpretation. Needless to say there will be spoilers so scroll at your own risk. ***
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I don’t feel that the ending is as confusing as some people could perceive. It’s somewhat ambiguous so it does require some piecing together, but it isn’t inconclusive. The trouble begins when Kenji enters his apartment for the final time. He tidies up he place before being hit with the digestive affect that Noi promised him. While in the bathroom, Jon arrives at the apartment just before the yakuza. They have a shootout and Jon dies. At this point it seems that Kenji has cheated death as the yakuza were surely sent to kill him. Compelled by his OCD, Kenji flushes the toilet and jumps out of the window and into the swimming pool below. This gives significance to the numerous shots we see establishing the swimming pool. Having eluded the yakuza, Kenji goes to the police. Evidence is collected and displayed before him. Kenji smokes a cigarette and daydreams about Noi and her life in Osaka. How do I know the scene of her in Japan isn’t “real”? Simple, since Kenji obviously never followed through with killing himself we know that these are visions not actuality. Unlike his previous notions, this one gives him hope and he could be seeing it through since the murder he committed was self-defense.
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