Last Christmas Review

Happy Christmas in July, Movies24 is celebrating by starting to show Christmas films all month! Perfect timing, so I’m going to be watching some festive films while doing my festive crafts.

I’ve decided to review this film because it’s very close to my heart. I absolutely love this film. I had read reviews after watching the film and it made me a bit miffed that they were quite dismissive. The film itself is a great quirky film which features music from Wham. I would say it’s in the style of Mamma Mia but a Christmassy version with Wham instead of ABBA.

The story really touches my heart because..........spoiler it’s about a women who had a heart transplant and the twist at the end where the guy she met was actually the “spirit” of her donor.

I don’t mention this loads but when I was sat waiting for my kidney transplant operation (after I got the call from my hospital saying they had a match), I was sat on my hospital bed and I was facing away from the door, for some reason I turned around just as my donor kidney went past in its transport case. It was so emotional, it definitely was mixed emotions of knowing my life will now change, to sadness for the donor’s family and their loss.

Like the film where the lead known as Kate/Katerina (Emilia Clarke) was expected to move on straight after her heart transplant, she struggled to accept what she’d been through and really accepting having someone else’s heart.

After my kidney transplant I think a lot of people thought I would totally change or that people wouldn’t like me any more because my personality is very bubbly and very enthusiastic about a lot of stuff! The emotional side takes a lot longer to heal from/adjust to. Hearing that was hard and like Kate, adjusting to my new lease of health was strange, things like not needing to park so close to where we are going because I can actually walk there, not in pain or wanting to throw up, felt rather odd! Kate needed time to adjust and figure out how she felt in this new situation.

To be honest I can draw a lot of similarities between me and Kate or Katerina (which is basically my name Katrina-I think it’s a variation of it.) The fact she works in a Christmas shop (hello my dream job) and had a transplant makes me love this film, the twist at the end where she realises its his spirit she can feel in her heart is a really interesting concept and I got asked quite a few times if there’s any new foods I liked or disliked or had weird sensations etc. I have to say, nothing yet. Although having my kidney transplant reignited my passion for Christmas so.......who knows. Although I’ve just had a thought I now eat chocolate like it’s going out of fashion! I don’t know anything about my donor but he may have enjoyed chocolate too! I love the fact that she has a lot of mishaps, this definitely is me to a T. It also brings a great amount of humour to quite a sensitive topic.

I think this story also touches on self love, normally at the end of a Christmassy film they find love but for her she finds self-love and acceptance of her new life, she does seem to find a potential love or great friend too but I love that it’s not the focus of the film.

Merry Christmas my Festive Friend’s 🎄