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I'm afraid it has been so long since I saw Last Night that I cannot really judge it properly. I hope I might have it somewhere around though to take another look at it. In the meantime if you are interested in another pre-Millennium film about the end of the world, I might recommend Hal Hartley's The Book of Life, which takes the form of a modern update of Jesus and Satan wandering around New York debating about whether humanity has any future! Here's the final scene (spoilers!)

And this has just reminded me of that Abel Ferrara film 4:44 The Last Day On Earth.

bottled spider wrote:^^I may have caught a fragment of that on TV once. Is there a scene involving a husband and wife and their adult son or daughter, where the father vehemently insists the family be all together on the last night, but the son or daughter is agitating to go to his/her girlfriend/boyfriend? If so, I've been meaning to check it out.

It's a while since I saw it, but there is definitely a scene a bit like this - except that the adult son (the main character) is insisting on spending his final hours alone. If memory serves, this doesn't turn into an overheated melodramatic confrontation; it's very low-key and matter-of-fact.

That may have been it then. The other scene I remember is a white man booking an escort to experience sex with a black woman once before he dies.

The Aviator's Wife (Rohmer, 1981). One of my favourite Rohmer's, even though I've only ever seen it on VHS. Very much eligible.

Manuscripts Don't Burn (Rasoulof, 2013). The chronology is intentionally confusing at first, but ultimately the main action concerns one long hellish day, preceding events being flashbacks. Or does anyone feel that doesn't accurately describe the narrative structure? This will certainly place high on my list, if I'm not misremembering the timeline.

Certified Copy (Kiarostami, 2010). What's the verdict: essentially one day, preceded by a brief setup the day before, or two days? ADDED: oops, I see that was already addressed earlier in this thread

zedz wrote:Certified Copy (since the 'day before' prologue is permissable)

bottled spider wrote:The Aviator's Wife (Rohmer, 1981). One of my favourite Rohmer's, even though I've only ever seen it on VHS. Very much eligible.

Thanks for mentioning this one. Wouldn't have thought about it, otherwise.

LEE Yoon-ki has not one, but two, excellent films that fall into this category -- Ad Lib Night and My Dear Enemy (A Fine Day). The first is centered around a death watch at night (with a prologue in the late morning before, and an epilogue in the early morning after). The latter starts in the morning and ends at night on the same day -- and involves an ex-boyfriend trying to collect a debt he owes to his ex-girlfriend -- from a variety of other lady friends. I love both (Ad Lib Night is my sentimental favorite), but Dear Enemy features a high-powered duo at its core, JEON Do-yeon (“Secret Sunshine”) and HA Jeong-woo (“The Chaser”). Nonetheless, HAN Hyo-joo was excellent in Ad Lib, holding center stage alone (albeit with a fine supporting cast) in her film debut.

Another good (albeit lighter) all-in-one day film features is ZHANG Yibai's Longest Night in Shanghai, featuring Vicki ZHAO Wei as a monolingual cab driver stuck with the job of trying to get her Japanese rider (Masahiro Motoki) back to his hotel, despite the fact that he doesn't know either its name or location (and knows only Japanese and English). Not perfect, but a great (and spirited) cast makes it worthwhile. (First seen unsubtitled -- which might be appropriate, given the subject matter -- and still it was enjoyable).

And in the category of "how could I possibly not think of this right away" -- Ozu's wonderful That Night's Wife (starting one evening and running to early the next morning). Based on an American pulp story about a man who commits a robbery to buy medicine for his very sick daughter, who is trailed home by a police detective, and whose wife takes drastic measures to ensure that her husband remain with his possibly dying daughter until morning (when her high fever might or might not break). The British Ozu Gangster set has my detailed remarks (unfortunately not posted online by BFI).

More worthy contenders -- as yet unmentioned...

Lubitsch's So This Is Paris
Bunuel's La ilusión viaja en tranvía (Illusion Travels by Streetcar)
Kaurismaki's Calamari Union (thanks knives for catching my typo)

Doesn't the original D.O.A. take place within the same 24 hours? IMDB says:

"Frank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why"

But i seem to recall that he had to solve it within the same day. I could be wrong though, haven't seen it in forever. Or i could be thinking of the Quaid/Meg Ryan remake. Or i could be wrong about both..

"What Happened Was..." Written and directed by the great Tom Noonan seems like it should be eligible..

I may be mis-remembering, but I think the noir/wrong man "The Big Clock" takes place within 24 hours. It probably wouldn't make my list, but it's certainly enjoyable.

barryconvex wrote:"What Happened Was..." Written and directed by the great Tom Noonan seems like it should be eligible..

Thanks for the reminder. Funny how one can really like a movie, and still forget about it when compiling a list.

Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream wouldn't be eligible. Roughly twenty-four hours have elapsed when the lovers awaken in the forest at dawn, but the play doesn't end until around midnight of that day. The Tempest, however, takes place over a few hours. I'll be voting for Jarman's for sure.

I suppose any of the various adaptations of Alice in Wonderland are eligible.

Criterions:
Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail -- Kurosawa
One Wonderful Sunday -- Kurosawa
Report on the Party and Guests -- Nemec
People on Sunday -- Siodmak et al Scratch that. Although the bulk of the film concerns a Sunday in the park, it introduces the characters on a weekday, showing them at work and making their plans for the weekend. Substitute instead the related:
Lonesome -- Pál Fejös
Partie de Campagne -- Renoir -- provided the ending is regarded as a coda

The Big Clock is two days. I remember disqualifying DOA when compiling possibilities, can't remember why right now though. Will run through everyone's suggestions and update the first post with eligible titles

I think Murnau's Sunrise is eligible, isn't it?

La haine was literally the first thing that came to mind for me when this list project was mooted.

On the Town (Donen/Kelly, 1949). The ideal candidate for this list should not only be a great movie, but should exemplify the category the fullest degree, rather than merely technically qualify. This fulfils both criteria in spades. Glad I finally got round watching it. Sometimes homework is fun.

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (Kurosawa, 1945). This unexpectedly made a perfect double bill with On the Town. I had forgotten how close to a musical this is. Too bad Criterion released this as an Eclipse. Supplements on the Noh and Kabuki sources, and on the actor Enomoto, would have enriched the film. Anyway, I find this sublime, and preferable to many of his more major works.

There are a couple films I've been meaning to see that sound like they may be eligible, but I can't tell for sure from their synopses: Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, and Epstein's Fall of the House of Usher. Are they?

The Ceylan certainly is. If I remember correctly the entire action occurs over about six hours.

bottled spider wrote:There are a couple films I've been meaning to see that sound like they may be eligible, but I can't tell for sure from their synopses: Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, and Epstein's Fall of the House of Usher. Are they?

It's been a while since I last watched it, but I want to say the Epstein film is not eligible. I seem to recall it taking place over more than one day. But do see it anyway!

Thank you both. I'll definitely see both films eventually, but I want to fit in the eligible one before the lists are due.

Three very different "dates":

Interview (Buscemi, 2007). A middle age political correspondent is tasked, to his chagrin, with interviewing a television celebrity he regards as a mere bimbo. They end up back in her apartment. Mayhem ensues. Recommendable as a clever entertainment, although ultimately the film's cleverness is of a superficial kind. What Happened Was... or Before Sunset -- to name a couple other films involving men and women negotiating revelations, half truths, and deceptions -- offer more substance. One reason I found the film less than completely satisfying is that This is a remake by the way of a movie of the same title by Theo Van Gogh. Anyone seen the Dutch original?

Brief Crossing (Breillat, 2001). A tender, poetic encounter between a gauche sixteen year-old virgin and a psychopathic feminist who initiates him into the true sorrowful facts of existence. As much as Breillat's anhedonic style underlines the ugliness of ferry bars, cafeterias, and terminals, the boredom of travel, and the nauseating revoltingness of sexual congress, it also delivers surprising moments of lyric beauty. Nastily delicious.

Friday Night (Denis, 2002). A refreshing palate cleanser after the previous two. An outwardly sordid pickup warmed by an inner glow of romance. A lovely, delicate film in which not only does not much happen, but remarkably little is spoken either. (I found it curiously forgettable -- I'd seen it before, and couldn't remember much about it other than having enjoyed it).

recent viewing:
Go (Liman, 1999). Clever and inventive one moment, juvenile and lazily generic the next. Entirely watchable, but doesn't fulfill its potential. Has some good gags.

Songs from the Second Floor (Andersson, 2000). Sounds eligible from the synopsis. I'm unable to verify as I couldn't endure more than ten minutes of it. May try again hammered.

additional candidates:
Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979). Eligible in spades, no?

Russian Ark (Sokurov, 2002). Technically eligible, but I would describe it as timeless or somehow outside time, and not really in the spirit of the category.

Less than a week left. Has it been decided if The Aviator's Wife is eligible?

It is, sorry, I never got around to updating the first post. And, actually, there's a little more than a week left

domino harvey wrote:And, actually, there's a little more than a week left

Sorry, typo there. That's what I meant to say!