Last Moment of Clarity – A Dull and Derivative Thriller

Last Moment of Clarity marks the directorial and screenwriting debut of brothers James and Colin Krisel. The film stars Avery as Sam Pivnic, a man deeply mourning the loss of his fiancé Georgia (Weaving), whose death he witnessed at the hands of the mob three years prior. When Sam watches a movie that happens to star an actress named Lauren Clerk who happened to share a strikingly similar to Georgia, he ventures out on a search for answers.  

Within the first few scenes, Last Moment of Clarity quickly exposes itself as a bland, poorly paced and derivative thriller through an excruciatingly slow build-up that fails to result in a captivating story. Within its first act, the film frequently jumps across time between the past and present, showcasing the contrast between Sam’s imperfect, but ultimately stable and happy relationship with Georgia and his current lifestyle, which clearly appears to be in shambles, giving the audience a window into his current state of mind. However, the issue with this was that it was difficult to empathize with Sam as a protagonist as the film never attempts to convince audiences to care about his relationship with Georgia. The flashback sequences don’t provide enough character development to establish any believable contrast between the past and the present while the character of Georgia in particular is completely underdeveloped. Weaving has clearly proven her extreme versatility as an actress, making her star-power arguably the main draw of the film. Unfortunately, the script doesn’t do her any favors by giving her very little to work with, making her performance of a bland character come off as bland. 

Alongside its underdeveloped characters and bland performances, the mob focused side-plot of Last Moment of Clarity often feels ham-fisted and is resolved in a unrealistically clean fashion. Meanwhile, the numerous twists and turns that the film takes within the second half of its runtime are relatively easy to predict, as the film embraces cliches of its genre. In the end, the film’s strongest aspect is its exploration of how our experiences change us as individuals and how our relationships can either grow or deteriorate as a result. Sam is a character obsessed with retaining the life he once had, without realizing that he’s not the same person that he was years ago and neither is Georgia. This portion of the film is interesting, but unfortunately, the film only skims the surface and makes little to no attempt to explore these themes until near the end of its brisk running time of 90 minutes. 

At the end of the day, Last Moment of Clarity is a relatively dull and predictable thriller that fails to captivate its audience.

*still courtesy of Metalwork Pictures*

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Tristan French