The Final Cut
First-time filmmaker Omar Naim wrote and directed the sci-fi drama The Final Cut. Set in the near future, the story concerns a device implanted in the body that is capable of recording a person's entire life. Once it is extracted from the body after death, the footage can be played back on a screen in the form of "rememories." Robin Williams plays Alan Hakman, an editor who cuts together the footage to make pleasant movies for funerals. Tormented by his job and his own memories, Alan also has a troubled romantic relationship with bookseller Delila (Mira Sorvino). While looking through footage for his next project, Alan discovers a man whom he believes is from his own past. Meanwhile, former editor Fletcher (James Caviezel) wants the footage for his own purposes. The Final Cut was shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004.
Director: Omar Naim
Starring: Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel, Mimi Kuzyk, Stephanie Romanov
Williams has extraordinary success in channeling this other person.
So fascinating and has so many implications that it balances out some real flaws in the story.
It's a thoughtful, multi-layered film that falls a bit short of its goals on all fronts. Fans of intellectually challenging science fiction and/or Robin Williams will make up most of its market.
Quiet and sleepy.
Williams gives a performance that's honest and carefully wrought but on some level still a stunt. All that courtliness is wearing him out, and it's wearing us out too.
Omar Naim
Berlin International Film Festival (2004)
Omar Naim
Deauville Film Festival (2004)
Omar Naim
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (2004)
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