This solution did not work for me.
For me it only worked without the function argument.
ie, this worked for me:
<% tp.file.last_modified_date() %>
This didnt (which is the snipped given in the Templater reference.
<% tp.file.last_modified_date(format: string = "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm") %>
As said, the proposed solution also didnt work.
Running:
Obsidian v0.14.15
Templater v1.12.0