The new romantic drama Last Christmas gives a 2019 twist to a classic Hallmark Holiday movie. The movie takes place in modern London and captures the life of a seemingly distressed young adult named Katarina.
The story begins with a down on her luck Katarina after being kicked off of couch after couch. She is forced to find a place to stay at night after working her full-time job as an elf at a Christmas shop ran by a Chinese motherly figure who goes by the alias “Santa.” Katarina, or as she likes to be called, Kate, stumbles upon a seemingly lonely man with an optimistic outlook on the world around him. Tom Webster becomes an outlet for Kate’s stress and struggle with her life.
As the movie unfolds, you begin to hear a lot about the illness that Katarina previously faced that comes up in most conversations with her and her estranged family. But as Katarina becomes less and less financially stable and faces homelessness, she is forced to rely on this family for support.
The movie seems to unpack a lot of different stories and doesn’t nearly begin to complete the narrative of most of them. Her family immigrated from Yugoslavia and with a mother who is caught up on the nationalist sentiment from the Brits, Kate and her sister find it hard to connect with their mom. In addition to her interesting family dynamic, Kate’s sister is also battling with her sexual identity and revealing her girlfriend to the family.
As stated before, none of these different character plots ever seem to come to a definitive end. A huge plot twist at the end leads to some lingering questions for viewers who want to see things work out for Kate, Tom, and her family. Last Christmas is a tear-jerker with a bit of romance that hopes to fulfill some Christmas dreams for its viewers. It’s worth a light-hearted watch.
