A REFRESHING VIEW OF CANADA'S `LAST NIGHT'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

The world is coming to an end and even Canadians are taking action. But they remain resolutely Canadian to the final moment.

``Last Night'' marks the directing debut of Don McKellar, an actor (``eXistenZ,'' ``The Red Violin'') and writer (``Violin,'' ``Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould'') who has become quite a force in north-of-the-border cinema. His film follows a half-dozen interconnected characters through Earth's final day, and is admirable for its wit, intelligence and determination to stay focused on an individual, human scale.

There's no space mission to save the planet from whatever may be threatening it; in fact, we're never really told what's wrong, just that night stopped getting dark some time ago. Government has long since ceased to matter, if not exist, but a radio station still reliably counts down the top 500 songs of all time. Even more reassuring, a conscientious gas company director, played by David Cronenberg, calls customers to tell them that there will be no interruption in service until, well, no one will care.

McKellar plays the central character, Patrick, who is inexplicably determined to spend the last hours alone. But his path keeps crossing that of Sandra (Sandra Oh), a woman trying to get to the other side of Toronto to go out (and we do mean go out) with her husband. Her journey is repeatedly frustrated by the Ontario equivalent of chaos - basically, a giant, sloppy rave party accompanied by small-scale vandalism and violence.

While Patrick and Sandra's reluctant bonding is the film's mainspring, its most amusing sideshow takes place in the apartment of Patrick's chum Craig (Callum Keith Rennie of TV's ``Due South''). For weeks, he's been busily living out every sexual adventure a human being could imagine, and his parade of fantasies-come-true includes his high school French teacher, played by Genevieve Bujold.

These and many more poignant and absurd scenarios are presented in a low-key, humanistic manner. Final, personal revelations are hesitant but heartfelt when they do come, and heroics don't go much beyond trying to hotwire an abandoned car or performing a first (and last) piano recital as best one can for a small but incalculably benevolent audience.

As you may have gathered, the whole thing is also a little dry in the telling. But after the bombast of ``Armageddon'' and the trite emotional melodrama of ``Deep Impact,'' ``Last Night's'' low-key behavioral honesty offers something like hope for the future.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Last Night'' (R; nudity, sex, language, violence).

The stars: Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie, Sarah Polley, David Cronenberg, Tracy Wright, Genevieve Bujold.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Don McKellar. Produced by Niv Fichman and Daniel Iron. Released by Lions Gate Films.

Running time: One hour, 33 minutes.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Cecchi Gori Fine Arts, Beverly Hills.

Our rating: Three stars.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Don McKellar forms a reluctant bond with Sandra Oh in the world's final hours in the Canadian film ``Last Night,'' which McKellar also wrote and directed.