Last Night

admin | June 8, 2011 | Comments (0)

DIR/WRI: Massy Tadjedin.• PRO: Christophe Riandee, Massy Tadjedin, Nick Wechsler • DOP: John Mathieson • Ed: Susan E. Morse • DES: Tim Grimes • Cast: Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes

Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington are the impossibly attractive couple at the centre of this romantic drama set mostly in a stunningly shot Lower Manhattan. The film begins with Knightley announcing her suspicions about Worthington’s ‘relationship’ with his new business partner, the equally impossibly attractive Eva Mendes. The fact that Worthington and Mendes are off on an overnight business trip the next day doesn’t help matters, and neither does the fact that twenty minutes after her husband has left, Knightley runs into her impossibly attractive ex-boyfriend Guillame Canet. And so begins a night of temptation for the couple, and the film plays the suspension game of will-they-won’t-they across most of its slim, 92-minute running time.

Debut director Massy Tadjedin has gathered a fantastic behind-the-scenes crew for her feature; with Woody Allen’s editor, Darren Aranofsky’s composer and Wes Craven’s director of photography, the film has a very high gloss sheen to it. And when you’re dealing with a foursome of actors as beautiful/handsome as the cast Tadjedin has amassed, it certainly makes for some very easy viewing.
But Tadjedin’s script is littered with dialogue that sounds like therapy sessions (‘Tell me something that counts.’ ‘I really wish I could’ve tired of you.’) and is delivered with a wide range of acting ability, from Knightley’s near career-best performance to the total wooden plank that is Worthington. There is some real sexual chemistry happening here, but alas, it being a 12A cert movie, that chemistry amounts to nothing more than a tease for the viewer.

The movie raises some interesting questions about relationships (which is worse; emotional cheating or physical cheating?) and has something slightly different to say on the subject (‘You can be in love and still be tempted’) compared to most films of this ilk, and it doesn’t opt out with any easy answers. In fact, its climax may leave some audience members more than a little… frustrated.

Rory Cashin

Rated 12A (see IFCO website for details)
Last Night is released on 3rd June 2011

Last Night - Official Website