In 2018, American missionary John Allen Chau was killed on North Sentinel Island, located off the coast of India and home to a tribe that has had very minimal contact with the outside world. Some described Chau’s death as a tragedy, while others blamed him for breaking the law and attempting to approach a population known to be hostile to outsiders. With many questions still left unanswered six years after his death, Justin Lin probes his legacy and investigates the events that led to his untimely demise at twenty-six-years-old in the film Last Days.

Chau (Sky Yang) grows up with a strong connection to Christianity, far more interested in becoming a missionary than following in the footsteps of his doctor father (Ken Leung). His path takes him to a training camp where he excels at adapting to unexpected situations and establishing a line of communication with mock indigenous people, and introduces him to two fellow missionaries (Toby Wallace and Ciara Bravo) who believe that their calling is stronger, pushing them to visit prohibited areas where people can still be saved from damnation. Chau’s journey eventually brings him to Port Blair in India just thirty miles from the ultimate inaccessible destination, where a determined local police officer, Meera (Radhika Apte), does everything she can to find the bold American before he does something that puts his or anyone else’s life in jeopardy. 

This film opens with Chau arriving to the island by kayak, shouting his name and offering gifts to the approaching people before they mistake something in his hand for a weapon and begin shooting arrows at him, forcing him under the water before he’s ultimately struck by one. Much of this film is speculative since the real Chau’s journals and Instagram posts offer clues to what happened towards the end of his life, but it’s impossible to truly know everything given the inability for anyone to approach the island without risking their own lives (and the contamination of a protected population, which Chau may have done). It’s clear that, in addition to being a true believer, Chau has put much thought and planning into this ambitious trip, including taking steps to hide his intentions from the government to procure a visa and getting vaccinations to protect himself, even if those he hoped would welcome him are not afforded the same protections.

Chau shares his cinematic story with the fictional Meera, who navigates her own struggles to be seen and heard, even if her aims are considerably less audacious and much more in keeping with actually enforcing the law, which her supervisor (Naveen Andrews) doesn’t even pretend to do. She’s a relatively compelling character, but there is some question about why she takes up so much of the movie when this is meant as a spotlight on the very real Chau. That said, there isn’t all that much to go on for a man who remains an enigma in death, so perhaps the film would have felt slight if it was solely focused on him. She also adds a thought-provoking moral component, pushing back on her sleazy boss’ assertion that the local people in Port Blair deserve more attention than this American with a reminder that she’s looking out not for him for the wellbeing of this tribe that just wants to be left alone.

Constructing a timeline for Chau in the film and marking the steps on his way to his fateful place of death is a challenge that Lin and screenwriter Ben Ripley respond to with mixed results, jumping around through time to create an air of mystery and suspense in their film based on journalist Alex Perry’s article The Last Days of John Allen Chau. Ultimately, they settle on an emotional connection between Chau and his father that can’t quite be verbalized as an anchor, and choose to feature few trials of faith as Chau remains almost entirely steadfast in his mission to save. Lin returns to Sundance after screening his debut feature Better Luck Tomorrow at the festival in 2002 and spending considerable time with the Fast and the Furious franchise. Audiences should expect something closer to a mystery drama than a biopic from this more recently action-oriented filmmaker.

Even if the narrative isn’t as strong as it could be, Yang, in one of his first major film roles, finds a great deal of humanity and charm within Chau. He’s gentle and approachable, and his proselytization is rooted in a belief that God can save people and he wants to help them see that. Sometimes it feels as if he’s on a joyous adventure, and he even brings some of that sensibility into his very last days. Bravo and Wallace offer some helpful passion and straight talk to guide Yang on his path, and Leung delivers one of his least aggressive and most sentimental turns as an immigrant father who never quite finds a way to talk to his son. Apte turns in a strong performance that, through no fault of her own, doesn’t always feel like it belongs in this film. Last Days offers plenty of theories and ideas for who Chau was, presenting an overall worthwhile portrait of someone who most of the world can’t fully understand.

Grade: B-

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Last Days makes its world premiere in the Premieres section at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.