The Last Laugh

The Last Laugh is a short piece that follows a police officer (Samuel Lawrence) apprehending a clown (Zachary Coleman) with their two opposing ideals at odds.

Despite the film's incredibly brisk runtime, it wastes no time building tension and executing its ideas almost immediately. While there isn't much material to sustain a feature-length runtime, the filmmakers clearly intended to execute their distinct vision as depicted on screen.

The most impressive aspect of The Last Laugh is its camerawork and fluid editing choices, which are on display. Dan Abrams, serving as both cinematographer and editor for the piece, utilises unique framing choices, including extreme close-ups during moments of severe conflict, and switches to wide framing to give the viewer a sense of the surrounding area. It's an incredibly visceral experience that doesn't let up until its final moments. However, without any prior context to the arising conflict between the two central characters, it's difficult to comprehend what is actually occurring, as the narrative throws the viewer in the deep end, requiring them to decipher what has led to this confrontation. It's a deeply frustrating aspect of the piece due to the lack of character development or thematic purpose, aside from the brief exploration of crime themes.

The brief use of music is incredibly impactful and accompanies the severity of the conflict extremely well. Going into the film blind is genuinely a rewarding experience as it's a rather unique piece of indie filmmaking that relies only on a single dispute between two opposing ideologies. While the narrative isn’t fleshed out much, it's extremely refreshing to see an uncompromised vision executed to this level of absurdity. Despite the film having fairly sparse material to work with, the filmmakers do their best to convey their talent with such raw production value. Its absurd nature is commendable, and the narrative does sweep the rug from under the viewer with a shocking twist.

Both central performances from Samuel Lawrence in his portrayal of the police officer and Zachary Coleman’s portrayal of the clown are mostly impressive. Samuel Lawrence, in particular, conveys a profound level of restraint when trying to diffuse the situation and decipher the clown’s intention. Zachary Coleman, on the other hand, is deeply haunting and manipulative as he attempts to play mind games with the police officer about his plans as a criminal. Both performances complement one another incredibly well, and it's one of the most impressive aspects of the piece, given the limited material they were given to work with.

While the film would’ve benefitted deeply from a prolonged runtime to flesh out the central characters more profoundly, the filmmaker’s intent was clearly in the right place, as the minimal ideas are executed aptly despite its shortcomings.

The Last Laugh is a bizarre and questionable experience that throws the audience into a state of conflict between two opposing characters with a severe lack of context. Whilst there is minor material to latch onto outside of the central conflict, the lack of spectacle may have been intentional and instrumental in helping the filmmakers execute the idea they envisioned with this short piece.