When I first saw the trailer for After Last Season, I was a bit taken aback. The colors are washed out, like in an older film. The props don't seem quite right. The dialog is slow, choppy, and seemingly random. The trailer hints at paranormal activity for only a moment, before switching to something else. Intrigued by this, I decided I had to see it. What followed was an experience unlike any other. After Last Season is a movie that will make you question standard modes of storytelling and give you a new perspective on life, film, and the relationship between the two.
The conversations are real, like overhearing strangers speaking. Like real life, most of what is said is trite and meaningless. We only hear one half of cell phone dialog. This movie values your attention but makes no attempt to take it from you. Unlike action flicks that grab you with cacophonous explosions and dramatic chases, After Last Season gives you a choice. This is not a telling of a story so much as a recording of something that happened; a slice of time, unedited and unembellished.
The characters are poorly defined and not clear-cut like the archetypal figures we generally see. They all live their normal lives with no mention of purpose or motive. They all seem to have trouble expressing emotion. Everyone, I think, sees a little of themselves in these characters. To complement the characters, After Last Season chooses its imagery carefully. The props are poorly constructed. Fake items are often substituted for real ones, even in situations where such a substitution is completely unnecessary. The scenery alternates between the pastel walls of the characters' homes and the exposed wood and white paint of the corporation building. Everything feels somehow abandoned, despite a normal appearance. An absence of extras makes the movie feel lonely, and the falseness of the props and scenery only serves to reinforce this.
If you are looking for an experience that is unique and surreal and profound, you have found it. After Last Season will frighten you, will move you, will inspire you to rethink your life. It is an iconic work. Ten out of ten.
