Excellent film that rightly received awards in independent categories. Throughout there was an unpretentious feel to this film that shows the directors craft and subtle methods. Made without a script this simply highlighted the talent of the actors. Considine as ever delivers a simple yet compelling performance and the young Artyom also showed a maturity beyond his years. Again credit must be given to the direction and the subtle use of light that created the feeling of isolation and solace as well as an other wordly dream like paralysis. Really well crafted and paced and beautifully shot. Enjoyable and compelling and worth a watch.

A few days have past since I saw Last Resort and it's still on my mind, especially Paddy Considine's performance. Last Resort is undeniably technically good, shot really well, great locations, top editing etc. The script is good but it's the performances that really make this drama as good as it is. I would love to know how this director got these actors to behave so realistically in every situation for every scene. All three leads were fantastic but Paddy Considine constantly stole the screen and brought humour along with him for the ride. I would recommend you watch this if you ever get chance, it is believable, rich, funny and lovely.

A young Russian woman Tanya and her son arrive in England and claim political asylum in order to be allowed to stay. They are then put in a holding area in a sea-side town in Northern England and told they must wait for 12-16 months while their claims are processed. They find their situation and the town to be equally bleak and look for a way out. Two options present themselves - the kindness of arcade owner Alfie and the well-paying exploitation of pornographer Les.This is a little gem of a film - very short but strong in almost every other area. The plot is not a typical life of an asylum seeker in the UK but it allows us to see life from their point of view. This doesn't mean that it's all bleak - Tanya sees humanity, exploitation, hate and indifference (the officers just doing their job who can't look into everyone's needs). The story is quite straightforward and at times doesn't seem to be going anywhere - the conclusion is pretty open, it's clever but it isn't satisfying for those wanting an end to the story. It's more a character piece that also looks at the UK's asylum policy. However it doesn't judge anyone or anything - it is wonderful in the way it simply presents the story with little sentiment or emotion and without pointing fingers at anyone or any situation. It could have easily been very preachy.The cast are great. Korzun is a great actress and brings her character's vulnerability through. Strelnikov is also good as her son although doesn't have as much to do. Considine is excellent as Alfie - at first his character just seems to be a wide-boy type, saying "man" every few words and boasting about his fights and stuff, but his character is deeply written and is well brought out. The surprise performance for me was the role of Les, the internet pornographer who offers good money to Tanya for some strip work. It was a surprise because he was played by real life pornographer Steve Perry (his porn name is Ben Dover - quite famous in the UK) - although here he is credited as "Lindsey Honey", a made-up name. The fact that he essentially plays himself (just in terms of his job) but allows himself to be judged by the audience makes it an excellent, brave performance and he deserves recognition for it.The film's weaknesses are minor but the fact that it is so bleak may be a turn off for those not willing to look past the surface. Also it moves quite slow and may frustrate at times. The way the scenes fade to black give it a bad TV feel - it feels like it was made to fade out to commercial breaks. Also the way that the seaside town is portrayed as "big brother" style town where the authorities see and know everything is at times a little hard to swallow.Overall it is a great character piece that also gives a view of the UK from an foreigners point of view. It's slow, thoughtful and non-judgemental.

A glowing review of this film on the radio enticed me. The review, I recalled in retrospect, was about the film's technical points. I experienced the film as a sad and predictable home movie about a Russian woman and child, who simply do not know what they are doing with their lives. The one counterpoint character in the life-in-the-gulag story line, played very well by Paddy Considine, kept the film alive, in my opinion. I was impressed with the film's ending. There was a message about responsibility and self victimization that was very refreshing. I did not feel that the film offered entertainment, even in my broadest definition, but it did offer a look at poverty, brutish bureaucracy and the consequences of ignorance in the whole realm of illegal immigration. Perhaps it could be shown regularly at airports in developing countries.