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With a dark attire and a mischievous smile, the artist and writer Stanley Schtinter resembles Damon Albarn dressed as an undertaker. This is fitting for his latest book, Last Movies, in which he examines cultural history through the lens of films watched by notable individuals shortly before their deaths. While there are numerous books such as 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die that make for great stocking stuffers, Schtinter’s book offers a deeper perspective: 28 Movies They Saw Before They Died. The likes of Bette Davis, Charlie Parker, and Steve Jobs are featured in this final film screening, where real events are intertwined with intriguing speculation. For example, what connections could Kurt Cobain have made between his own life and The Piano, the last movie he viewed, in which a woman is sold, abused, and stripped of her beloved musical instrument?
At Close-Up, a cafe, cinema, and DVD library in London, Schtinter shares that he was curious to see if he could rearrange the history of cinema using different criteria instead of the usual categories and judgments. In his book, he starts with Franz Kafka’s departure in 1924 after viewing Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid. The last movie Chaplin saw before his death in 1977 was Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, which he had a hard time returning. In return, Kubrick watched the trailer for his final film, Eyes Wide Shut, right before his own death in 1999.
Kubrick was allowed to rest peacefully, but Chaplin’s body was dug up and held for ransom. Murnau, whose last film was Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, also had his skull stolen by grave-robbers. Dillinger, a notorious gangster, was killed by the FBI after watching Manhattan Melodrama at the Biograph cinema in 1934. According to Schtinter, his body was mistreated by a mortician. Last Movies could be seen as a type of resurrection, but there is no disrespect shown. Schtinter states, “I wanted to pay tribute to the individuals I am writing about. I do not want to be careless.”
The story spans from the 1920s to the 2020s, with the final mention being for Jean-Luc Godard who passed away last year. It includes various tangents, such as a breakdown of TV programming on the night Ian Curtis of Joy Division committed suicide. But where did this morbid concept originate? “It all began when I came across news of Olof Palme’s assassination,” Schtinter reveals, referring to the Swedish prime minister who was fatally shot in 1986 after leaving a cinema in Stockholm. “That made me wonder, ‘What was the last thing he saw?'” The answer turned out to be The Mozart Brothers, directed by Suzanne Osten, who had actually offered Palme a role in her film. Would he have even gone to the cinema if not for that connection? And does that make the movie itself responsible? Schtinter cites the words of late director Louis Malle: “The cinema has the power to kill, just like anything else.”
If the assassination of Palme was the inspiration for the book, then the philosophy behind Last Movies is more representative of Schtinter. He has been described by writer Iain Sinclair as “the witchfinder general of cultural complacency”. His focus is on presenting mundane things in a mischievous and otherworldly manner. In his previous project, The Lock-In, he combined scenes filmed in the fictional pub, the Queen Vic from EastEnders, to create a 100-hour film entirely set in that pub. In 2018, he recreated Princess Diana’s funeral in the streets of Manchester, using a mariachi band instead of the original music. In 2021, his project Important Books (Or, Manifestos Read by Children) stayed true to its name – offering anyone who desired it the opportunity to listen to an eight-year-old boy read The Communist Manifesto.
According to the speaker, his criteria for deciding whether to invest time in a project includes asking himself if it brings him joy and if it serves a purpose. He was inspired to create the Important Books concept even before learning about the government’s ban on using materials from anti-capitalist organizations in schools. The ban further motivated him to pursue his goal of having children read The Communist Manifesto.
Last Movies shakes up the orthodoxy in its own way. “I think it’s important to abandon the criteria by which we organise history,” Schitnter says. “As it stands, it’s not working. What we end up with is this biased history leaning heavily toward James Bond: chauvinism, expensive food, the killing of foreigners. It’s kind of how JFK got to power in a weird way. He wanted to position himself as a serious literary guy but he also needed this strongman element on the side.”
Kennedy’s final film was most likely From Russia With Love, but he is not the only fan of the Bond franchise mentioned in the book. Presley, a fellow Bond enthusiast, even rented out a theater in Memphis to watch The Spy Who Loved Me in the weeks leading up to his passing. The chapter focusing on Presley then delves into his eating habits, from his childhood consumption of squirrels to his indulgence in hamburgers, Pepsi-soaked Sweet Tarts, and deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches that may have contributed to his untimely death. This segues into a discussion of food-themed songs in Presley’s discography, including “It’s Carnival Time” from his film Roustabout (1964), which featured Richard Kiel in a small role, prior to his iconic portrayal of the metal-toothed villain in…you guessed it, The Spy Who Loved Me. As the reader progresses through Last Movies, connections such as these begin to emerge like constellations on a clear night sky.
Suddenly, you start to notice them everywhere. Just a week before our scheduled interview, I happen to be heading to Close-Up to rent a DVD when I receive an email from Schtinter. He’s unexpectedly in London for the day due to car trouble and will be spending time at Close-Up. He asks if I would like to stop by and say hello. This coincidence is already quite strange, but it becomes even more so when I mention that I’m picking up the film “Death in Venice” (“A devastating film,” he comments as he holds the DVD in his hands). This leads to him mentioning that he will soon be visiting Venice for the first time. The reason for his trip is to lift the spirits of a friend who recently lost a loved one.
The pictures in his book are printed in an unusual manner, with them being upside down. According to him, this reflects the book’s approach towards history. In other words, it turns it on its head. I then share a screenshot from a movie I love, released in 2021, where the main character, a trans actor, has hung portraits of cis-gendered performers who have played trans roles, such as Jared Leto and Hilary Swank, upside down on his wall. This parallels the upside-down illustrations in Last Movies. And the title of the film? Death and Bowling. Schtinter enthusiastically remarks on the synchronicity between the two works.
Although death is a common occurrence, these coincidences are incredibly strange. Did he ever feel uneasy while writing the book? He now confesses, “It does feel like I’m pushing boundaries.” Spending long periods of time in solitude, focusing on a project that revolves around death, can make one want to be cautious. Death may perceive you as one of its own.
days before his death.
It greatly unsettled him to think about Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the drug-influenced director, watching the crime movie 20,000 Years in Sing Sing in his last moments. It was astonishing that the telegram featured in the movie was dated 10 days before his passing.
In June 1932, 50 years prior to Fassbinder’s viewing, a telegram altered the story and led to Spencer Tracy’s demise. The atmosphere in the room becomes chilly as the speaker declares the presence of real ghosts on the screen that are often overlooked by viewers.
Source: theguardian.com
