The Last September

A Phoenix pick

A lush costume drama based on Elizabeth Bowen's novel, directed by Deborah Warner and written by acclaimed novelist-screenwriter John Banville, The Last September is the tale of the fall of the English aristocracy in Ireland in the 1920s, as the Troubles mount and the Black and Tans square off against the rebels. A middle-aged English couple (Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon, letter-perfect as well-meaning snobs) stiffly endure the war's onslaught, but they're dismayed to watch their teenage niece Lois (luminous ingenue Keeley Hawes) being courted by a penniless soldier. They'd be more mortified to learn that she's also slipping around with Connelly, a lusty Irish fugitive. Lois's lost innocence is an apt metaphor as, in the midst of crumbling blueblood entitlement, she is counseled by Fiona Shaw's visiting, scandalously modern relation. Viewers unfamiliar with Bowen might find this film pretty but inconsequential; her fans (and I am one) will relish the way her style has been captured on screen, in all its wit, subversion, and sensuality. Screens at the Copley Place Friday, September 10 at 6:30 and 8:45 p.m. and Saturday, September 11 at 1:30 and 4 p.m.

-- Peg Aloi

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Film Festival Feature Films

| The Minus Man | The Tavern | Black Eyed Dog | The Last September | A Wake in Providence | Man of the Century | Pups | Dreaming of Joseph Leeds | Wisdom of Crocodiles | That's The Way I Like It | American Beauty | Mifune | Black Cat, White Cat | Hit and Runway | All the LIttle Animals | Me Myself I | The Alchemist and the Virgin | Trash | Old Man River | The Poet and the Con | Snow Falling on Cedars | Guinevere | East is East | American Movie | Rivers of Babylon | Two Ninas | Rats | Keepers of the Frame | The Runner |

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More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times

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