Friendship at the Bottom of a Glass

Read Time:5 Minute, 52 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Last One for the Road (Le città di pianura)
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Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Year Released: 2025, 2026
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director(s): Francesco Sossai
Writer(s): Francesco Sossai, Adriano Candiago
Cast: Filippo Scotti, Sergio Romano, Pierpaolo Capovilla, Roberto Citran, Andrea Pennacchi
Where to Watch: opens in New York on May 1, 2026, and Los Angeles on May 8, National Expansion to Follow

RAVING REVIEW: THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD never moves like it’s in a hurry to prove anything. It takes its time, lets conversations expand, lets moments sit, and trusts that something will build from simply staying there long enough. At first, it can feel like it’s lost without direction, but the longer it holds that pace, the more it starts to reveal its purpose. What seems casual on the surface is carrying something heavier underneath, shaped by people who don’t quite know where they’re going but keep moving anyway.

Two aging small-time crooks, Carlobianchi and Doriano, spend their days chasing one last drink, one last opportunity, one last version of themselves that may no longer exist. When they cross paths with Giulio, an architecture student, the dynamic shifts just enough to give the film a new perspective without ever losing its focus, and what follows isn’t a structured journey as you’d expect, but a wandering passage through the Venetian countryside that mirrors the state of its characters.

That sense of looseness is key to understanding what director/co-writer Francesco Sossai is doing here. The film isn’t concerned with conventional plot progression. Instead, it builds its identity through observation, leaning into the idea that these characters are products of a world that has already moved on from them. The screenplay was shaped from years of collected conversations and real-life moments, assembled into something that feels lived-in rather than constructed. That authenticity shows up constantly. The dialogue rarely feels written in a traditional sense; instead, it carries the weight of something overheard, something remembered, something that existed before the film ever started.

Sergio Romano and Pierpaolo Capovilla carry the film, depending on them more than anything else. Their chemistry doesn’t rely on big emotional swings or dramatic revelations. It’s built through repetition, through the kind of familiarity that only comes from years of the same routines. They feel like men who have been stuck in place for a long time, not because they lack awareness, but because they don’t know how to exist outside of what they’ve already become.

That’s where Giulio becomes essential. Filippo Scotti plays him with a restraint that never feels forced, acting as both participant and observer within the story. He’s not there to “fix” anything or provide some clear counterbalance. Instead, he represents something that’s slowly disappearing from the world around him, a more thoughtful, reflective presence that struggles to find space in a landscape increasingly shaped by economic decline and cultural erosion. The contrast between him and the older duo never feels exaggerated, but it’s always there, creating a subtle tension that gives the film its backbone.

THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD, beyond a simple character piece, is really found in its relationship with the setting itself. The Veneto region is central to everything the film seeks to convey. Sossai frames it as a place caught in transition, no longer defined by its past but not formed into anything new. The press materials describe it as a landscape where “countryside is no longer countryside, but hasn’t yet become a city,” and that idea runs through every frame. It’s a world where identity has been stripped down and replaced with something more functional, more hollow.

That theme ties directly into the film’s generational perspective. Carlobianchi and Doriano aren’t just drifting because they’re irresponsible or unwilling to change. They’re part of a group that came of age in a different economic reality, only to be left behind after the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. The film doesn’t excuse their behavior, but it does contextualize it. Their refusal to move forward isn’t framed as defiance so much as disorientation. They don’t belong to the world they were promised, and they don’t understand the one they’ve been given.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of humor running through the film, but it never pushes itself to the forefront. It’s dry, situational, and often tied directly to the characters’ inability to fully grasp their own circumstances. That restraint works in the film’s favor, allowing the comedy to feel organic rather than performative. It’s not trying to generate big laughs. It’s more interested in the absurdity of everyday interactions, especially when filtered through people who are slightly out of sync with their surroundings.

THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD doesn’t attempt to tie everything together the way some may hope. It stays consistent with its approach, allowing the characters to exist in that same unresolved space. It feels true to what the film has been building toward from the start. There’s no grand revelation waiting at the end of this journey, just a deeper understanding of where these characters stand and what they’ve lost along the way.

This is a film that prioritizes atmosphere, character, and thematic over traditional storytelling. It asks for patience, and it doesn’t always reward that patience in obvious ways. But for those willing to meet it on its own terms, focusing on how it captures a world in transition and the people struggling to keep up.

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[photo courtesy of MUSIC BOX FILMS]

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