Last Chance Charlene: a fresh take on faith, grief and the relentless creative journey
Last Chance Charlene premieres on VOD platforms February 28th, 2023.
“No-one wants to see movies about death anymore!” Is one of the responses Charlene receives during a seemingly futile pitch for a screenplay she wrote surrounding her brother’s suicide. This type of thoughtless feedback and ill-timed advice typifies the distressing journey that Charlene takes as she tries to navigate grieving her brother Dominick’s death, while keeping her career and family together in the dramedy Last Chance Charlene.
This fraught experience is one that the movie’s writer and director Tony Gapastione is all too familiar with. As a pastor of over 25 years, Gapastione has heard his fair share of well-intentioned bad advice and theological mismanagement. He recalls when his own grandmother died by suicide and a pastoral colleague at the time told him unequivocally that she was now in hell. He also relates some poor career advice he was given as a college student with a passion for the arts — which was that in order to honor God, he should focus on working in full-time ministry.
“I leaned into that and I’m now at a place where I can recognize that people’s good intentions were really harmful,” Gapastione said. “I love the arts and storytelling as a way to connect with God.”
It’s no doubt Gapastione’s own wrestle with faith that makes the movie so compelling and gives the conversations authenticity. Specifically, in a scene when Charlene runs into the pastor’s wife in the parking lot and she says to Charlene disparagingly, “I haven’t seen you at church lately… I don’t know what I’d do if a loved one committed suicide.” Charlene recounts this story to her mother, Lorenna (played by Alley Mills from The Wonder Years) who describes her disillusionment with the church where she worked as a secretary; she was given three days bereavement leave when Dominick died and told the pastor couldn’t say he’d gone to heaven at the funeral.
While the movie grapples with themes of grief and spirituality, it doesn’t make any conclusive statements, nor tries to paint religion altogether in a negative light. This is demonstrated poignantly when Lorenna calls the pastor’s wife a witch and then apologizes to the framed photo of Jesus sitting on her shelf.
Similarly, Gapastione in his own life has reflected on the problematic messaging he experienced in faith communities and is trying to do something different at the current church he pastors part-time, fittingly called The Quest.
“I think the church should and could look a lot different right now,” Gapastione expresses. “It could embrace more alternative experiences like the arts. I want to be a pastor in a very different type of way.”
Writer and Director Tony
Gapastione of Last
Chance Charlene brought
his unique pastoral warmth
to set each day.
Gapastione brings his fresh and unique pastoral approach to set, where each morning he gathers the cast and crew into a “huddle” for 15 minutes to recap their work from the previous day.
“We’re sharing highlights, we’re confessing what we want to do different the next day or encouraging people that we really saw thriving and excelling. It’s a really beautiful time,” Gapastione described.
Given Gapastione’s paralleling real-life experiences, it makes sense that he initially saw himself playing the lead role when he first conceptualized the film, but he ultimately felt that a female lead would bring more complexity to the character. Through his film company BraveMaker, Gapastione aims to elevate a diverse mix of voices, and so the role of Charlene fell into the lap of Allison Ewing who magnificently portrays the part of an awkwardly middle-aging mom struggling to keep current in the entertainment industry. While the movie delicately touches on several dark topics, it’s littered with comedic relief and manages to stay energetic and upbeat for the duration of the feature film.
Last Chance Charlene premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival in April of 2022 and has since been nominated for Best Feature Film and Best Director at the 2022 Pasadena Film Festival, where Allison Ewing also won Best Lead Actress. It was the Audience Award Winner for the Best Feature Film at the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival in Chicago and Audience Award Winner for Best Comedy Feature at Cinequest in San Jose.
All these accolades seem like a timely reward for the man who has spent two decades trying to reconcile his spirituality with his creative pursuits and surmises: “I can go to an art gallery and fall to my knees just as much as I could in a worship gathering with really great music or an emotional message.”
Last Chance Charlene will be available on all VOD platforms by February 28th, 2023 and can be preordered now on iTunes or Apple TV.