AllMovie

Like his earlier The Atomic Café, Kevin Rafferty's The Last Cigarette makes extensive use of existing footage -- from Congressional hearings, Hollywood movies, television commercials and propaganda films -- to tell its story. However, unlike Cafe, Cigarette's story is not so clearcut. Pro- or anti-smoking partisans may disagree, and may see Cigarette as either supporting or attacking their camp, but looked at objectively, it's harder to identify which side the filmmaker is on -- which is his point. By using excerpted and abbreviated (and therefore manipulated) C-SPAN footage of the 1994 hearings into the tobacco industry, Rafferty manages to paint both the tobacco industry and the Congressmen holding the hearings as opportunistic and self-serving. (He also lets the viewer see flashes of occasional sincerity and depth.) As a result, Rep. Henry Waxman's grandstanding bullying is as offputting as tobacco's James Johnston's carefully-rehearsed evasions. Contrasting all of this with blatantly manipulative commercials, messages and television news reports, Rafferty paints a picture of a culture which is so media-influenced that serious discussion of smoking and the issues related to it is practically impossible. All of this is done with postmodern tongue planted firmly in ironic cheek, of course, and there are some unforgettable moments, including a foreign commercial connecting smoking to impotence, a cigarette-hating dog, and the truly bizarre concept of erotic "smoke-ploitation" films. Cigarette goes on a bit too long, but it does provide the viewer with a lot to think about.