Last Night (2011)
Starring Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes, and Guillaume Canet
Directed by Massy Tadjedin
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***
Temptation is what Last Night is all about. Joanna and Michael (Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington) already seem to be simply going through the motions of being a married couple after only a few years of being betrothed. After a squabble one night, each of them finds themselves in a position to stray from their spouse -- Michael with his beautiful co-worker Laura (Eva Mendes) and Joanna with her French ex-boyfriend Alex (Patrick Dempsey's Gallic doppelganger Guillaume Canet). Will Joanna or Michael succumb to the allure of another or will they remember why they fell for each other in the first place?
Considering the fairly decent stars on display in Last Night, it's rather shocking to me that it received a wide release of only ten -- that's right, ten -- theaters back in May. It'd be one thing if the film was a dud, but director/screenwriter Massy Tadjedin's first effort as an auteur is actually a very nice glimpse at a relationship faced with outside temptations. While not without a few issues -- Tadjedin has an odd way of editing certain scenes with some pointlessly quick cuts, the first half hour hinges on tedium -- the film is overall quite a success in that it manages to have us root for this couple that we just met ninety minutes prior.
If anything, Last Night shows the public that Sam Worthington may actually prove to be a rather decent actor. We certainly didn't get a great glimpse at his acting chops in Avatar, but here he proves that without hundreds of millions of dollars of special effects, he's actually a rather thoughtful, subdued, and talented actor. Keira Knightley continues to act with her chin and lower jaw, trying to convey a tough exterior by moving her mandible around into odd positions. Still, despite this crutch of hers, her Joanna is a complicated character and she sinks her teeth into probably her best role in a while.
Add to that, this has got one heck of a final moment that I imagine will end up on the RyMickey Best Scenes list at the end of the year. It ends the flick on such an interesting note that the mere thirty seconds at the end make up for a bit of a lackluster start. (I actually rewound it to give it a second glance, I thought it was that clever.) Last Night is definitely worth an instant watch on Netflix.
The RyMickey Rating: B
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