REVIEW #122 Last Christmas (2019)

Last Christmas is a romance comedy directed by Paul Feig. The film follows Katarina, an aspiring singer who finds herself working as an elf, not really knowing what to do with her life. That’s until she meets Tom who seems to provide a new outlook on life. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

Emilia Clarke leads the cast as Katerina and she injects a lot of charisma into her performance. She plays the role of a lost women well and creates a likeable character that the audience can route for. Henry Golding plays Tom and he brings a lot of joyfulness to his role, it’s clear the pair have great chemistry and that translates nicely on screen. Despite the pair performing well, the storyline didn’t exactly require fantastic acting. There were flashes of intimate and more emotional moments but I think the two actors could have done a lot more if they were given the chance too. Perhaps that’s a little harsh, after all it is a romantic comedy so it couldn’t get to deep for the audience but a little more to fully utilise Clarke and Golding would have be good. Emma Thompson also has a small role in the film, playing Katerina’s mother and Michelle Yeoh also appears. So a good cast that perform well overall but maybe they were a little wasted at times. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

The film follows Katerina, an aspiring singer who is working as an elf in central London. Feeling lost in life she seems disillusioned by Christmas and is struggling to find her voice again after a medical emergency. She then meets Tom who provides a new outlook on life, as he helps her turn things around. The plot is pretty simple, I think the only thing Christmassy about it is that it’s set at Christmas time, with decorations everywhere and the fact she works as an Elf at a local store. Other than that it’s mainly just a romance film. It’s easy to follow and the chemistry between the two lead characters is really good, despite its simplicity it is a heartwarming plot. There is a really big twist that I didn’t expect, that gave the storyline a little shake up. To sum it up, it’s not exactly thought provoking and it’s the same thing we’ve seen time and time again but it’s an easy watch if that’s what you’re looking for.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

There were no special effects but the cinematography was actually pretty impressive. London at Christmas time is a sight to behold at the best of times, so exacerbated for a film, it looks even more impressive and it makes for some really nice visuals. There are some nice shots that explore different parts of the city but they keep it intimate enough to focus on the two lead characters and the journey that they are going on. These types of films don’t have very large budgets but they certainly done their best to create some really nostalgic scenes with just the natural environment. 

OVERALL (3.5/10)

I think this is a very, very average romance and a sub par Christmas film. However, that being said it is easy to watch and it does what it says on the tin, it provides a nice romantic comedy that you can watch without putting much thought into. Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding make a nice pair on screen and their chemistry does create a lot of heartwarming scenes. The cinematography utilised the Christmas theme and certainly set the scene of Christmas in london, which actually created a lot of good visuals just using the natural environment. The comedy landed more often than not, so it’s not a bad film by any means, will it make a list of top Christmas films? Absolutely not but if you’re looking for something easy to watch then definitely give it a go. 

Thanks for reading.

Callan