Ivan Kander
A film about compassion and the obsession nature of collection, The Last Move isn’t your typical portrait documentary. Granted, at first blush, it all seems like generic “profile doc” stuff. In curating films for Short of the Week, I’ve watched a seemingly infinite number of shorts about folks with quirky hobbies (in this case, the protagonist Michael Thomasson has earned the Guinness World Record for largest video game collection in the world). To be honest, that’s not that interesting to me. Sure, it’s neat and all, but it doesn’t really hold enough narrative weight for a 20+ minute film.
Thankfully, The Last Move goes in a decidedly more compelling direction. After a detailed introductory portion that profiles Thomasson’s collection (perhaps too detailed…we think the film would have been more successful with a tighter edit), director Brian Storm and his team at MediaStorm quickly reveal a more human element to this story: Thomasson needs to sell his massive collection of games in order to pay for medical care for his sick mother. The social issues the film raises are timely and important. Mainly, it brings into sharp relief how people like Thomasson’s mother can fall through the cracks of the United States’s healthcare system. Without venturing into politics too much, it gives a personal, human face to an unfortunately all too common predicament.
*SPOILERS*
But, that alone isn’t what makes The Last Move worthy of recommendation. Beyond being an important piece about a son’s love for his mother, it profiles how kind of awful the internet it is. This is what I find especially fascinating. In Thomasson’s search for a buyer, he encounters the click-bait nature of the online news cycle in its most brutal form. His game collection quickly garners headlines and social shares, but ultimately, no aid for his predicament. Even worse, the buyer he eventually finds falls through. In the wake of this devastating setback, it’s amazing how fast all the commenters, bloggers, and well wishers fade into the virtual ether.
The result is somewhat of an emotional roller coaster—a documentary about a nerdy everyman facing difficult odds. Kudos to director Storm and his crew for really investing us in the sentimental stakes of Thomasson’s metaphorical “final boss battle.” Like the best documentaries, The Last Move uses a high-concept hook (look at all those games!) to ground us in a story that covers a variety of societal issues with nuance and care.
If you’re itching to watch more, MediaStorm has just completed two feature length documentaries that are now being submitting to international film festivals. Head to their website for all the most up-to-date information.