The Living End

An American road film set in California. Jon is a film critic. He has just had a test result: he is HIV positive. He sits at home, can tell nobody and does not know what to do. Luke lives on the road. He is in the same position with an entirely different attitude: he believes he has nothing to lose and behaves accordingly. The two meet by chance. After an incident Luke shoots a policeman and they get into a car and go. From there the film is a narrative of flight: motels, filling stations, empty roads and long conversations in between. What the narrative is interested in is not the crime but how people behave at a moment when death looks certain. Jon is still trying to build a life; Luke argues that it is pointless, and the two keep clashing over it. The film comes out of the wave of American independents at the end of the 1980s and start of the 1990s. The budget is very low; the crew is small and the shooting was done in natural light. It counted as one of the leading examples of a new movement forming at the time. Craig Gilmore plays Jon and Mike Dytri plays Luke. Gregg Araki directed and wrote it; the editing and photography are largely his as well. An important production for anyone who likes independent cinema and the angry films of that period. Before you watch, know this: the film is harsh, provocative and offers nobody relief.