Film

The Last Time I Saw Richard

Name: The Last Time I Saw Richard
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Released: 2013
Cast: Toby Wallace, Cody Fern, Brian Lipson, Melissa Godbold, Marta Kaczmarek

Drama
Very dark

A 22-minute chamber piece about two damaged boys in a psychiatric ward locked in a contest of dominance and vulnerability. Toby Wallace delivers a stunning performance as Jonah, a loner who weaponizes his pain until Richard arrives. It's tense, claustrophobic, unexpectedly moving—a short that earns every second.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a slow-burn psychological chill where the unease builds from a sharp two-hander between prickly characters, with the fantasy and horror edges kept ambiguous rather than spelled out.

Skip it if you want plot momentum or clear answers, since this short piece stays oblique and leans on mood and atmosphere, which may feel frustratingly vague to a viewer looking for a conventional horror payoff.

What it asks of you: Only about twenty-two minutes, so it asks for a single unbroken sitting and steady attention to small looks and tense silences rather than to a sprawling story.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Moonlight2016

Three chapters tracking a vulnerable young man through violence, desire, and isolation. Like The Last Time I Saw Richard, it finds profound tenderness in masculine guardedness and the cost of emotional survival.

But Measured and meditative to the point of quietness. Some find its pace glacial; it rewards patience others don't have.

The Killing2011

Danish crime series that treats damaged psychology with absolute seriousness. The claustrophobia of the wire room, the battle between detectives' wills—same tension, different stakes.

But Runs three seasons. Easy to consume far more than you meant to. Genuinely bleak; it doesn't offer much warmth.

Boyhood2014

Rotoscoped animation (like the film you're reading about) exploring adolescence and the quiet damage of privilege. Same unflinching eye for emotional violence between young people.

But Twenty-four minutes. If you want a traditional arc, you won't find it. Fragmented, impressionistic.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Last Time I Saw Richard

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Kes1970

Both are intimate two-hander stories about boys at the edge using wit and cruelty to keep others at distance—until one encounter demands honesty.

Ken Loach's naturalistic story of a working-class boy and a hawk. Decades earlier and a world away, but the same precision about how marginalized kids use defiance as armor, and how connection breaks through.

But Regional Yorkshire dialect; hard to parse if you're not listening closely. Slow by modern standards, with zero dramatic music cues.

It's Such a Beautiful Day2012

Rotoscoped experimental film about a man's mental decline. Brutal, poetic, absurdist—it uses surrealism to convey what psychiatric crisis actually feels like, not what it looks like.

But The animation is deliberately crude. Very few people find this comforting; most find it unsettling, which is the point.

Fish Tank2009

Brit thriller where a working-class girl's aggression becomes her survival mechanism. Same DNA as Jonah—how we weaponize ourselves, and the cost when someone calls the bluff.

But Sexually and violently tense. Some scenes linger uncomfortably. Bleak ending that doesn't resolve.

The Virgin Suicides2000

Soft-focus exploration of teenage desperation and the facades we build. Kirsten Dunst anchors it—wounded, defended, unknowable. Thematically aligned with the film's interest in guarded hearts.

But Very 90s aesthetic. If you want realism, the visual style distances you from it. Narrated by a male chorus; some find that gimmicky.

Requiem for a Dream2000

Four parallel descent narratives bound by addiction and self-destruction. Aronofsky uses form itself to convey psychological fracture—no wasted shot, mounting dread in every frame.

But Exhausting by design. Visually aggressive editing. If you watch this hoping to feel better, you won't. It's a punch, not a hug.

We Need to Talk About Kevin2011

Tilda Swinton as a mother trying to understand her son's monstrousness. Fragmentary structure, cold palette, the idea that love and violence can coexist in the same person.

But Difficult and occasionally hateful. The child actor is unsettling (that's the point). Offers no redemption arc and no easy answers.

Come and See1985

Brutal, operatic Soviet war film about a boy conscripted into horror. Like Richard and Jonah, it refuses to soften or sentimentalize youth in extremity. Aesthetically stunning and morally devastating.

But Very long, very graphic, and deeply grueling. Among cinema's most punishing experiences. Not entertainment. Not even close.

Natsume's Book of Friends2008

Both feature isolated protagonists whose emotional walls protect them from a world that's harmed them. Both suggest that vulnerability, not hardness, is the real strength.

Japanese anime about a boy who can see spirits and must navigate between worlds. Gorgeously animated, profoundly kind—it asks the same question as your film but from a place of curiosity instead of rage.

But It's a 70-episode series. Commitment required. Some find anime's conventions saccharine; this one skews gentle rather than intense.

The Act of Killing2012

Both use the act of performance—boys playing roles, pretending toughness—as a way to excavate what lies beneath. Both trust that something true emerges when the mask slips.

Documentary where a Indonesian death-squad leader is asked to dramatize his own murders. Utterly original formal experiment: as he acts out atrocities, he begins to feel their weight. Consciousness dawning in real time.

But Difficult to watch and philosophically challenging. Some see it as exploitative; the ethical questions it raises don't resolve. Nearly three hours.