Gordon-11 This film is about a group of friends and family travelling on the road to Margate in order to carry out Jack's last wish. They all go on a trip down the memory lane in addition to their road trip."Last Orders" is a touching portrayal of friendship. Their bond is so strong even after 50 years, this itself is a reason to celebrate. Nowadays it is hard to see such friendship in the age of digital communication, and yet everyone yearns for them. The flashbacks adds dimension to their long lasting friendship, and makes the characters so convincingly human. "Last Orders" is quite a depressing film, and you need to be in the right mood to appreciate its beauty.

mark-whait Last Orders is a brilliant portrayal of four life long friends and their various highs and lows from late teens to near pensionable age. Told in multi flashback scenes, the centrepiece is the remaining friends reminiscing on a trip to Margate to scatter the ashes following the death of Jack (Michael Caine), the most valued and charismatic of their number. The film is weighty in places, but is rescued by the quality of the cast. Caine needs no introduction of course, but his presence in the movie is almost ever-present, even in scenes he is not in - mirroring the fact that on the Margate trip he is nothing more than an urnful of ashes. David Hemmings is also on top form, but for me Bob Hoskins steals the show, as the horse racing expert with a kind heart who harbours a guilty secret that torments him following Jack's death. Helen Mirren is also wonderful, and underplays her role as Jack's widow with typical aplomb. Perhaps Tom Courtenay and certainly Ray Winstone are a little underused, but as a study in long term friendship and how life can either humble us or mould us, this film is a moving and well made effort from all concerned.

paul2001sw-1 Graham Swift's 'Last Orders' is a fine story about a collection of old men and their baggage (in every sense of that word); translated into a movie by Fred Schepisi, it provides an outing for a number of fine British actors who do a good job in bringing their characters out from the page. The film as a whole, however, is less successful than its source. Partly this is because of the difficulty that films have in weaving as seamlessly between the past and the present as books can: the movie is always unambiguously in one time or the other, and switching between them, whereas the original could roam as freely as thoughts; perhaps the structure should have been more substantially altered, to make it more suitably cinematic (for example, the story of each man could have been told in succession). And maybe because of this, the quiet drama of the story of Ray never comes out quite as clearly as it does in the book. But it's still fun to enjoy the interactions of the cast.

philip-ct Atmospheeric, brooding, and thought-provoking, this film is not to be missed. I saw it on TV, and cannot recall it having a run on circuit (in SA) in 2000.It is a totally non-pretentious film: some drinking, lifelong mates are going to scatter the ashes - the Final Orders - of a buddy who has died. Through flashbacks, we see the intricacies of relationships, decisions that are made, and memories that are shared.It's a deeply moving film, with excellent ensemble acting. I heartily recommend this film: it's rich, multi-layered and well worth watching. It's a story about life and living, although it deals with death!