Exclusive: Cinqué Lee talks survival thriller ‘Last Ride’
Now out on VOD thru Quiver Distribution is the survival thriller Last Ride (aka A Rare Grand Alignment), written and directed by Cinqué Lee and starring Roman Griffin Davis, Felix Jamieson, Charlie Price, Samual Paul Small, Kristofer Hivju, and Gustaf Skarsgård. Lee is the younger brother of director Spike Lee, an executive producer on this film.
Set against the frozen expanse of Norway’s mountains in the winter of 1982, Last Ride follows three American teenagers on holiday who beg for one final trip to the summit during a rare celestial alignment. When a sudden power failure strikes and a violent surge of energy tears through the cable system, their car grinds to a halt high above the valley floor. The electronics explode in a shower of sparks, killing the operator and leaving the boys stranded midair with his body.
As night falls and the sky burns with an ominous phenomenon, isolation and fear begin to fracture their friendship. Long-buried secrets surface, guilt takes hold, and survival becomes as much an emotional struggle as a physical one. Framed by a present-day return to the mountain decades later, Last Ride is a haunting coming-of-age survival story about the night that changed everything and the trauma that never truly let them go.
The film originally premiered in 2023 at the UK Film Festival and also played at Beyond Fest 2024. The film was produced by Ann Carli, John Einar Hagen, and Cinqué Lee.
Lee previously directed Nowhere Fast, Window on Your Present, and Burn Out the Day. He has also appeared as an actor in his brother's films School Daze and Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. Lee has extensive experience working in various capacities on his brother's productions including writing the screenplay for 1994's Crooklyn and eight episodes of the television series based on 1986's She's Gotta Have It.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales talks to director Cinqué Lee about his film Last Ride