In the aftermath of Europe’s 2008 economic collapse, director Francesco Sossai paints a landscape of fading prosperity and stubborn hope. Against the sun-bleached fields and silent villas of Veneto, we meet Carlobianchi and Doriano, two fifty-somethings for whom every drink is “the last one”—until the next. Their goal is simple: unearth a buried stash of cash, celebrate with one final round, and perhaps reclaim a shred of bygone grandeur.
Into this twilight world stumbles Giulio, a reticent architecture student whose shyness mirrors Italy’s own tension between tradition and reinvention. As the trio barrel through bars, brothels and dusty backroads, the film’s humor and elegiac moods swirl together like prosecco and bitters. Debuting in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard, The Last One for the Road signals Sossai’s ambition to fuse road-movie tropes with a distinctly Italian sensibility—one that resonates far beyond national borders.
Three Lives in Tandem: Characters and Performances
Sergio Romano’s Carlobianchi and Pierpaolo Capovilla’s Doriano embody a post-industrial malaise crossed with irrepressible glee. Their repartee—spanning drunken anecdotes, off-key dancing and bar-table duels—carries echoes of Italian neorealism’s odd-couple dynamics, even as it recalls the puckish spirit of Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki.
Moments of comic swagger give way to shadows in their eyes: the quiet recognition that youth has slipped through their fingers. Filippo Scotti’s Giulio arrives as a blank slate, his architectural aspirations framed by wide-eyed camera takes that contrast sharply with the duo’s weathered features.
With each tentative smile or stolen kiss, Scotti negotiates the transition from spectator to participant, his growing confidence underscored by an economy of gesture rather than speech. The chemistry among the three feels forged in improvisation—when they swindle a nobleman or share a cone that tastes unexpectedly sweet, we sense authentic camaraderie, even as their flaws simmer to the surface.
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A Road-Trip of Episodes and Emotions
Structured as a sequence of vignettes, the film’s episodic rhythm mirrors the rhythms of Dante’s Divine Comedy—each stop a canticle of vice, hope or revelation. First, the promise of buried funds spurs their nightly bar-hops; next, a slapstick con on a count reveals both their resourcefulness and moral drift.
The ice-cream scene crystallizes the film’s thematic core: anticipating bitterness, they taste sweetness instead, a reminder that life’s surprises can outshine regret. Underlying these set pieces is a meditation on midlife restlessness: the ritual of “one more drink” becomes a ritual of resistance against time’s erosion.
Giulio’s mentorship offers the older men a fleeting sense of legacy, yet their inability to recall the very lessons they impart underscores the fragility of memory and authority. Each episode doubles as character trial and social critique, inviting viewers to reflect on how personal narratives intersect with broader cultural currents—be they economic upheaval or the unending quest for belonging.
Sight, Sound, and Sossai’s Directorial Touch
Shot on grain-rich film stock, The Last One for the Road frames Veneto’s vistas as both stage and character. Dusky nightclubs pulse with ambient bar chatter and Italian pop songs whose nostalgic refrains echo the protagonists’ internal longing.
By contrast, daylight sequences across rolling hills and riverbanks feel almost pastoral, as if rescuing viewers from the claustrophobia of urban decay. Sossai’s pacing alternates between languid tracking shots—letting the camera drift behind their aging car—and brisk cuts during misadventures, such as the getaway after the con. Diegetic silence punctuates moments of introspection: a sudden hush as Carlobianchi stares at an empty horizon, or the quiet click of an ice-cream spoon.
Flashbacks, rendered in muted color palettes, braid past and present, suggesting that memory itself is a roadmap of longing. Through these visual and auditory choices, the director forges a synergy between narrative and setting, crafting an experience that feels at once regionally rooted and resonant with global audiences.
The Last One for the Road had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2025.
Full Credits
Director: Francesco Sossai
Writers: Francesco Sossai, Adriano Candiago
Producers: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Philipp Kreuzer, Cecilia Trautvetter
Cast: Filippo Scotti (Giulio), Sergio Romano (Carlobianchi), Pierpaolo Capovilla (Doriano), Roberto Citran, Andrea Pennacchi
Director of Photography (Cinematographer): Massimiliano Kuveiller
Editor: Paolo Cottignola
Composer: Krano
The Review
The Last One for the Road
The Last One for the Road is a quietly moving road movie that marries offbeat humor with a genuine meditation on aging, friendship and renewal. Sossai’s understated direction, coupled with richly lived-in performances, turns a modest premise into a resonant portrait of lives in transition—each sip, each mile revealing both vulnerability and resilience.
PROS
- Authentically drawn characters with natural chemistry
- Subtle shifts in mood that underscore key emotional beats
- Visually rich captures of Veneto’s sunlit roads and shadowy bars
- Effective use of diegetic sound to deepen immersion
- Filippo Scotti’s transformation as Giulio feels genuine
CONS
- Episodic pacing occasionally stalls between major set pieces
- Familiar road-trip tropes can feel predictable at times
- Comic interludes sometimes undercut the film’s more serious moments
- Secondary characters receive limited development
- Some thematic threads lack full narrative payoff
