Critical Review: Last Night
by Hoda Mallone
Last Night is a little-known movie with well-known actors. I don’t believe it gets the anywhere near the credit it deserves. I happen to think it’s wonderfully written and beautifully shot. Not to mention superbly acted. And the onscreen chemistry is off-the-charts. Full disclosure, I am also very partial to movies about writers running through the rainy streets of New York.
The basic premise is that Joanna and Michael are married for a few years, young, attractive, trendy. At a party, Joanna sees Michael talking to his gorgeous co-worker, Laura. Joanna starts an argument with Michael about Laura. They spend the evening discussing and making up. When Michael sets off on a business trip with Laura the next day, Joanna is not pleased but sends him off lovingly anyway. The same day, her past love, Alex, randomly bumps into her and they end up on a romantic evening around New York City. The central question is, who will cheat?
Critics have called this movie “talky” and “slow-moving.” I even read a review saying that the people not in the marriage were the more sympathetic characters, implying this was a bad thing? What I think this movie does brilliantly is exactly that. It takes what we traditionally think of as moral, specifically in the context of a marriage, and bends it without completely breaking it. When someone cheats on their partner, it effects far more people than just the cheater and the cheated. And those people (characters) are important to the story too.
This movie has some of the best subtlety in dialogue I’ve seen around these issues. The scene where Joanna sees Michael with Laura for the first time is very believable and relatable. Joanna sees Michael talking, alone, with Laura on a patio. She sees them through a window. Laura lightly puts her hand on Michael’s arm in conversation. That’s it. That’s all it took. What I love about this is (and maybe it’s because I’m a woman), I know that feeling. You see something that seems so mundane to your brain, but your gut knows something is very wrong. That sixth sense is powerful and frankly pretty reliable when it comes to relationships. There is no dialogue really, but instantly, you understand there is something to be wary of here.
Another example of great subtle writing is after the party, when Joanna and Michael are home talking about what happened, Joanna asks Michael if they got married too soon. He responds with the length of time they were together. And she says, “It’s not about the amount of time, it’s about the when of time.” They were college sweethearts. And when discussing modern relationships, this is often not given a proper think through. It makes you start thinking about what it was like during those early adult years and how the decisions we make when we’re so young can affect and inform the rest of our lives.
In one of the most important scenes, where a good amount of character development is introduced, Joanna and her ex-boyfriend, Alex are in her friend’s kitchen, checking on the friend’s dog. They are catching up and Joanna looks at Alex and says, “I think you may have just ruined this kitchen for me. I come here all the time, and now you’ve been here.” You learn so much about Joanna from that one bit of dialogue. She’s introspective, romantic, and practical. But mostly it says a lot about the depth of her feelings for Alex without being too direct. Most people, in life, don’t come out and just say what they mean.
The set-up is that both partners, Joanna and Michael, can easily cheat on the other on the same night, when Michael is out of town. Where things get interesting is in the specifics. Michael could cheat with a relatively random woman. Someone he doesn’t really know, but is extremely physically attracted to, where their tryst would likely lead to nothing more. Joanna, on the other hand, could cheat with the love of her life, the “one that got away.” An event that would most certainly shake up her world. So, who will cheat? In this movie however, the better question is, which scenario would be more wrong?
I find the playing with the moral ambiguity of each situation to be fascinating. Is it ok for Michael to cheat on Joanna if it’s a one-time thing? Is it ok for Joanna to cheat on Michael if it’s with her long, lost love? A man she knows and trusts? Is it alright for Joanna to cheat if Michael does? And vice-versa. One could argue that it’s all bad. That would certainly be the mainstream ideal of monogamy in marriage. But this film delves a bit deeper (not too much, but enough) into the idea of a strictly physical affair versus an intense emotional affair. I appreciated that it was never really imposed on the viewer one position or the other. Although both are decidedly destructive to a marriage, this film leaves it completely up to the viewer to decide about their feelings on the issue.
Last Night (2010)
Directed by Massy Tadjedin
Written by Massy Tadjedin