DVD Last Night
Run time: 93 min
Rating: 6.6
Genres: Drama | Romance
Director: Massy Tadjedin
Writers: Massy Tadjedin
Stars: Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes
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Storyline Joanna accuses her husband, Michael, of being attracted to his co-worker. Wanting to make-up before he goes on a business trip, she assumes she over-reacted. But when they are both away from each other for one night, Michael ends up testing his loyalty to Joanna and his attraction to Laura. And Joanna tests her honesty to Michael when her ex-boyfriend Alex suddenly appears in New York for the day. Written by napierslogs |
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Plot Keywords: business trip, new york, ex boyfriend, co worker, married couple | |
Details: Country: USA, France Release Date: 3 June 2011 (UK) |
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Box Office Opening Weekend: $20,130 (USA) (13 May 2011) Gross: $98,986 (USA) (27 May 2011) |
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4 comments
Rather enjoyed this film at the Rome Film Festival last night. The atmosphere of New York by night and the soundtrack itself made it worth the half an hour delay getting in! The main performances are strong, Keira puts in a surprisingly convincing interpretation as the wife who meets her previous love the day her husband is out of town with a female colleague he likes. It discusses the nature of love, betrayal, marriage and sentiment in a thoughtful way, without the usual labelling of people as cheaters and victims. It should encourage us to realise that life and relationships are more complex and that ultimately, nobody really belongs to anyone (however much we might like to think we do). It's a shame these days that we only get to see the lives of the beautiful, very well-to-do folk (in their wonderful apartments, sipping on fine wine) on the big screen as if temptation within marriage was a luxury that only the wealthy and obscenely photogenic can afford. Anyway, universal themes are dealt with well and it's good fodder for a long conversation afterwards.
OK, what is going on please? Here is an excellent, skilfully crafted, intelligently paced and well structured movie with a most complimentary screenplay, and it should of course be rated at 8.x out of 10. Yet, as I write it is barely rated above average. Sorry, but I have to knock myself on the head a couple of times just to check that I am now indeed only seeing 6.7 out of ten for a most excellent relationship themed movie.
I am not at all sure what is wrong with most people who've rated this movie "a notch above so so", save for the usual obvious problems when it comes to matters of 'most people'… Nonetheless, I am reminded that most people often get it right: Matchpoint was correctly rated, Two Lovers was fairly rated, Before Sunrise also got the high rating it so deserved. However, here is a movie which is every bit as excellent as those named movies, albeit being in its own inimitable way different, yet it is still currently (Spring 2011) faced with the travesty of being so unjustly under-appreciated.
Please watch this movie if the themes of modern relationships, loyalty, trust, and betrayal are of any interest to you, and you should find, as I did, that its insanely 'above average rating' is well short of the mark. For this movie is a near masterpiece as a study of such themes. The performances of the lead actors/actresses, its screenplay, direction, score, production are all first rate. Don't miss this movie if you've a brain in your head, and if themes concerning relationships are of any interest to you at all. I also rated Matchpoint, Before Sunrise, & Two Lovers very highly, in case you're wondering if my word is worth following. Then you should also find it to be worth a far more realistic 9/10
I am very surprised "Last Night" got a rather lukewarm user rating on IMDb. From my point of view it is a movie that is very honest, if terrible in its depiction of relationships, love and faith. There were many moments, where I expected the movie to lose its momentum, where the filmmakers could have chickened out, but that never happened. Maybe too much is talked about, when some things could have been told through pictures. Then again, I found all dialog very believable. My only criticism concerns Sam Worthington's rather wooden performance. Apart from that "Last Night" really knocked me off my feet, from the beginning right until the brilliant final scene.
This movie is one of few I am going to watch again. Actually, I can't wait to have my own copy.
I could agree that the storyline is not most original ever but this is the movie you watch not to see pictures but to feel sensibility. I imagine if you were never involved in that kind situation it could be hard to catch the sight of the pain, misery and suffering. However I am not sure about the character of Keira Knightley. I believe she is a great actor but the character she played was ambiguous. In some scenes she acted like an easy-going girl who considers her ex-love like some fun but later you see how much it hurts to her.
I cant understand what type of girl the authors wanted to make of Eva's Mendes' character. When she told a story about random incidents letting decide her behavior she looks like fragile and unsure girl but later i could call her quite a bitch. However I would like to believe that she should feel quite guilty about falling in love with a married man.
I was expecting the character of Sam Worthington to be firmer. On the other hand then he would look like malignant cheater however he was the victim of circumstances.
I never saw Guillaume Canet before this movie and I was excited about his likeliness to McDreamy Patrick Dempsey. His playing was perfect, he expressed his feeling in such a persuasively way and he deserved the name of McDreamy.
I was both happy and unhappy about the end of the movie. Any end case would have called lots of objections and discontent. However I was expecting it would tell what is the right end in that type of stories. As you may guess there is no right end. And the movie gives you much potential to think.