Screened as part of NZIFF 2012

Last Days Here 2011

Directed by Don Argott, Demian Fenton

A riveting portrait of loss and redemption as 53-year-old, one-time 70s rock god (and now crackhead) Bobby Liebling attempts to swap an early death in his parents’ basement for musical resurrection.

USA • In English
90 minutes • HDCAM

Directors, Photography

Producer

Sheena M. Joyce

Editor

Demian Fenton

Music

Stars of the Lid
,
Rachel Grimes
,
Pentagram

With

Bobby Liebling
,
Sean ‘Pellet’ Pelletier
,
Diane Liebling
,
Joe Liebling
,
Hallie Miller
,
Geof O’Keefe
,
Greg Mayne
,
J.B. Beverly
,
Murray Krugman
,
Ian Christie
,
Jimmy Bower

Festivals

SXSW
,
London 2011

Elsewhere

“The hugely engrossing, stranger-than-fiction documentary Last Days Here tracks three roller coaster years in the recent life of 50-something burnout Bobby Liebling, the outrageous frontman of 70s doom metal band Pentagram. Co-directors Don Argott and Demian Fenton have created a deft and weirdly affecting portrait of how a drug-addicted man-child knocking on death's door manages an astonishing resurgence.
When we first meet Liebling, he's living in the sub-basement of his aging, long-suffering parents' suburban Maryland home. Strung out on crack, heroin and who knows what else, scratching his skin raw from imagined parasites and surrounded by frat house squalor, the wraith-like Liebling still dreams of the rock 'n' roll stardom that, thanks to a staggering series of botched opportunities, eluded him and his revolving door of bandmates.
That Pentagram has maintained a strong cult following in the Facebook age is not lost on Liebling's friend and manager, a good egg and Pentagram nut named Sean Pelletier. The über-fan's longtime goal to rally the band — and keep the erratic Liebling sober and focused long enough — for an awesome reunion concert (Liebling OD'd at the last one in 2005), makes for highly eventful, never-say-die drama.
But it's the offbeat love story at the heart of Liebling's resurrection that provides the film's most powerful — and touching — surprise.” – Gary Goldstein, LA Times