You have two poems, a shocking deficit of pocket change, a bad night's journey into day and all of paternal New Yorkwith its unrelenting absurdities and primordial pool of transparent opportunitieswaiting, with bated breath, for your verse. Just waiting. And you're ripe for the picking. And you're Calvin Wizzig. And maybe fascinating women with intimidating pillow-lips will notice you if you give them one of your poems. Or if you buy them milk. Or if you marry them. Or, maybe you'll just end up with a ball-point pen. THE LAST ROMANTIC is what happens when artists with vision draw upon something personal and true, and make the film themselves. That is to say, something this unique couldn't have arisen from an adaptation, remake or star- studded Hollywood formula. This rare variety of cinema embraces stories that defy expectations with layered, complex characters and a signature visual style, the aesthetics of which stay with you long after having left the theater. And Adam Nee's portrayal of Calvin Wizzig reminds us of why we go to films in the first place; to feel something. The audience is not led by the hand or told how to feel. The characters here aren't easily placed into clean stereotypes. Their dilemmas, hopes, feelings and actions never allow us to categorize or judge them. Similarly, I find it difficult to classify the film itself for the same reasonsits comedies and tragedies run together, allowing it to become believable and carry with it an honesty that is, frankly, irresistible. This is merely the beginning for the Brothers Nee.
