Rob Munday

Strong words open a strong documentary: “I have something important to discuss … I don’t want to be kept alive at all.” Bren Cukier’s deeply personal yet relatable short, Last Resort, follows a family as they confront a life-changing diagnosis – one that will eventually rob them of their father.

Families of those living with Alzheimer’s disease often describe the experience as a “long goodbye,” as they witness their loved one slowly fade under the weight of this devastating illness – something that Cukier appears to be preparing for in her touching short. Juxtaposing home-video footage recorded twenty-five years apart, the filmmaker adopts a formally and thematically fitting approach for a narrative focused on a condition notorious for its erosion of memory. The resulting nostalgia is never indulgent, but instead a fitting means of capturing a family bracing for an inevitable loss.

“I wasn’t just capturing a family vacation, I was documenting our family’s grief in real-time” – Cukier on the home-footage that inspired her short

As the family looks toward a future in which their father may become a diminished version of the man they once knew, Last Resort unfolds as a filmmaker navigating the early onset of grief through a lens most familiar to her: the camera. Comparing the footage of their recent trip to the video her father shot decades before, Cukier encountered a stark and affecting contrast: “It was jarring to see the same people at the same place in completely different contexts – one full of levity, the other full of loss. But both rooted in love.”

It is precisely this enduring love that renders Last Resort such a tender and affecting portrait, as the unfiltered affection present in both time periods is rarely captured on screen. At the same time, the film does not shy away from the fragility of life. The vibrant familial joy documented twenty-five years ago serves as a reminder of how easily – and inevitably – that sense of security can (and will) be ruptured.

In this sense, Last Resort offers an essential meditation on the value of the present moment. What could have been a purely downbeat watch instead feels like both a creative release during a confusing time and a heartfelt reflection on life, love, and family – one that extends its impact well beyond the filmmaker to her audience.