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For the last several years, Writer/Director Gus Van Zant’s films have been synonymous with plain, pale, and bare (and, though the significance is unclear, homonymous with plane, pail, and bear). Nothing on his resume suggested he was going to deliver a film as powerful as Last Days, the most captivating roman a clef since Citizen Kane. Last Days presents Van Zant’s sagacious ruminations on the final chapter in the life of pop icon Glenn Hughes, the mustachioed leather enthusiast from The Village People.

“The Village People sparked a turning point in American culture,” Van Zant explains. “They taught us to be authentic, to sartorially embrace our inner sense of self. The story I wanted to tell was how one of these mavens reacts when he feels the cold breath of the Grim Reaper on the back of his neck. Did Glenn, for example, say ‘You know what, I’ve only got a short time left, maybe I won’t bother with the leather today’ or did he feel an obligation to maintain the persona at the expense of being uncomfortably hot and prickly? Those are the kind of questions that haunt me.”

The choice to make Hughes the subject of Last Days is intriguing because he was generally thought to be the least charismatic Village Person. “It’s true,” chirps Van Zant, “Frankly, I would have preferred to tell the story of David Hodo (the construction worker) or Randy Jones (the cowboy). But the film is about a man’s last days, and for better or worse, Glenn is the only band member thus far to have died. And besides, the steady progress of his cancer gives the movie that ‘ticking clock’ that they blather on about in film school.”

Actor Michael Pitt’s portrayal of Hughes rings true, capturing both the humor and pathos of the terminal man without being maudlin. In one scene, the band visits him in the hospital and he immediately lays into the Indian, Felipe (Lukas Haas, in a performance that announces his readiness for leading man status). Hughes needles Felipe for continuing the Native American act even though, “You’re just another dude outta Brooklyn.” Felipe argues that he is part Lakota Sioux, a “Shadow Walker,” the Native American term for a man who walks in two worlds. “Have it your way, Chief,” counters Hughes, as he grabs at his trademark leather pants with ribald gusto, “You want to shadow walk over here and smoke the peace pipe?”

Hopefully, Last Days represents a turning point in Van Zant’s career, proof that he finally understands the needs of the audience. He’s always known how to combine quirky characters with a rich tapestry of images. Until now, however, his films have been glaringly bereft of gay men singing and dancing with exuberant joy. It’s one of those imperative elements that they don’t “blather on” about in film school. They should.

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