The Last Laugh
Feature documentary about humor and the Holocaust, examining whether it is ever acceptable to use humor in connection with a tragedy of that scale, and the implications for other seemingly off-limits topics in a society that prizes free speech.
21 December 1948, Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
1 March 1926, Paris, France
8 February 1926, The Bronx, New York, USA
10 June 1966, Bedford, New Hampshire, USA
12 September 1967, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
25 June 1961, Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
7 June 1952, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK
13 October 1971, Hammersmith, London, England, UK
18 April 1963, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
1 December 1935, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
1 June 1981, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
19 June 1897, Brooklyn [now in New York City], New York, USA
4 April 1935, Chicago, Illinois, USA
17 July 1952, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
15 November 1962, Newark, New Jersey, USA
20 August 1967, Ramat Gan, Israel
February 14, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
3 February 1970, Epsom, Surrey, England, UK
23 December 1943, Los Angeles, California, USA
2 August 1924, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
October 22, 1903 in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
12 May 1937, New York City, New York, USA
2 October 1890, New York City, New York, USA
8 June 1933, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
1 December 1970, Bedford, New Hampshire, USA
March 23, 2017
Sit down with The Last Laugh and have the last laugh over those who committed horrors in the past, are doing so now, and will in future.
March 16, 2017
At times haphazard but always involving ...
March 03, 2017
There are a lot of fascinating flashes.
March 13, 2017
Intriguing in that it lays out the case that we can now make jokes about the Holocaust and lets the viewers decide for themselves whether they've made the point.
May 09, 2017
When it floats away from its star talent, The Last Laugh becomes a viciously humane work, on a journey as vigorous as any contemplated by D.A. Pennebaker and his sort.
March 24, 2017
At a time when many of us look to comedy to keep us sane, the question is especially pertinent, although the answers here aren't especially penetrating.
March 09, 2017
Ferne Pearlstein's The Last Laugh is a rather safe and genteel documentary about the limits of humor (especially as they pertain to the Holocaust), but it opens with a subtly provocative sequence of events that's hard to shake.
April 01, 2017
Part of the film's charm is in its reluctance to sit on one side of the fence, and it instead acknowledges the plurality of experiences and interpretations.
March 09, 2017
The Last Laugh is a multifaceted and extremely thought-provoking documentary about the place of comedy in contending with the Jewish genocide during WWII.
March 03, 2017
[An] insightfully open-ended inquiry into the role of humor as it relates to unspeakable tragedy.
March 10, 2017
It remains an enlightening conversation. And the movie is that: a conversation, not a thesis erecting an argument.
March 09, 2017
What's fascinating is the difference in perspectives.
