Une passion d'été

In her screen debut, a pre-vamp Dushku plays Alice, an 11ish girl who makes friends with an older girl on the other side of both puberty and the street of her Long Island neighborhood. "That Night" is a sweet little slice-of-life flick which tells of the lessons about growing up which Alice learns through her friendship with neighbor Sheryl (Lewis) and her boyfriend (Howell). A journeyman flick but a slow starter worth the wait, "That Night" is a charmer with a 50's flavor, some solid performances, an okay screenplay, and will be most enjoyed by teens and more mature adults.

Touching, sensitive film about childhood, and a youngster's need to be "saved" from her own age of innocence. Juliette Lewis is fantastic as vampy young woman in 1960s suburbia whose affair with a greasy-haired rebel becomes the focal point for a little girl who lives across the street. The film's dreamy/quirky tone is reminiscent of "Men Don't Leave", and its depiction of a big-hearted kid trying to connect with a world much larger than she is both nostalgic and sympathetic. Filled with small but wonderful little touches, thoughtful nuances and a quiet, sweet ending. Well worth-seeing. This may be the best performance yet from Juliette Lewis--she's flawless. **1/2 from ****

I first saw That Night in sixth or seventh grade, as I recall. Two terrible, terrible years in my life. This movie though, it really stuck out to me. Maybe it was solely because of the time period in which it was set in. I imagine had it taken place in contemporary times, I wouldn't have been quite as interested. Nonetheless, I thought this was a pretty good movie. Not the strongest writing. But it's good in some areas, and makes up for the rest with how it handles such confusion and emotions that we can all relate to.

The protagonist is Alice, a 10-year old girl who narrates the story of the summer of 1961. It was one of the most influential summers of her life. Alice is awestruck by her across the street neighbor Sheryl, a 17-year old girl who could best be defined as a free spirit. Alice adores everything about Sheryl, she's totally mesmerized by her. Enter Rick, a local troubled youth who Alice would turn to in hard times. Rick and Sheryl would begin a romance, and Alice would become friends with both of them. However, the neighborhood parents disapprove of Rick, and problems arise when Sheryl refuses to stop seeing him. Alice, perhaps out of her admiration of the two of them, actively pursues keeping the couple in tact. No matter what it takes.

That Night is a pretty solid coming-of-age film. Alice is torn between two worlds. That of the tumultuous relationship between her own friends (typical discussions about sex, body issues, etc) and that of the world of Sheryl and Rick. Alice, who can't understand her friends (or how young boys and girls treat each other on the verge of their sexual awakenings), romanticizes Sheryl and Rick's situation. However, she may not understand that world as well as she thinks either.

Alice is a very relateable character. But not just for women. I think most of us can understand how it was when we were younger, and we thought that we had simple solutions to complicated problems. At whatever point that it was when we decided that we were "grown-ups" trapped in children's bodies. And let's not forget of course, how we always wanted to preserve the fairy tale. I think this film captures all of these points very well.

However, this film does have it's problems. The biggest is that there are certain sub-plots which aren't covered enough. Another is that the dialog is lacking in certain areas as well. This is capped off with the frustration that this movie is only about 90 minutes long. Had they granted us an additional 30 minutes at least (to round out two full hours), we could have had better dialog between Alice and her father, and had a better understanding of the frustration she felt with him. We could have had more time spent on Alice and her school-age friends, and the confusion and disenchantment she felt with them. And perhaps we also could have been given more time with Sheryl and her mother, and had a stronger understanding for her mother's disliking of Rick. The plot can feel rather contrived at times, because the whole film feels rushed. To my understanding, the book was more detailed. So I don't understand why they would make a film that was a little too short to really give us stronger writing.

So I give this movie about a 7. Maybe that's being generous. However, the movie really shines in the areas in which it's good. It's worth a viewing if you're up for a coming-of-age or romantic drama set in the golden age of contemporary American society.

I love this movie so much. Its in my top three of my favorite movies of all time. I remember the first time I saw it. I was fumbling around late at night trying to find something to watch. Then there it was. A cute little movie of a young girl discovering things about the world. I was like..hmmm well maybe. So I watched it. Fell in love! Not only was it one of the best love stories I had seen in awhile, but its was made in a fashion that was real. A bit taboo for the time its set in.. but thats what makes it really great. If you have never seen this movie.. I definitely suggest you buy it.. rent it.. borrow it from someone.. Whatever. Just see it. Its so cute. And the music isn't bad either.. Its a great movie and I had a great time watching it. Thanks.. Lilly

I was flipping through Hulu and found this "coming of age" movie made in the early 90's about the early 60's, and thought, why not? I haven't been too thrilled with a lot of the current stuff being churned out, after all. And what do you know, it wasn't too bad. Sort of cute...charming...a little funny...with a great sound-track and wonderful "period piece" feel. (The clothes were fantastic, too...way better than Mad Men fashion)!

The movie is narrated by a cute, very believable ten or eleven year old girl named Alice (Ally, played by Duskhu who does an amazing job) from Long Island on the verge of discovering her own place in the world when it comes to boys and sex and all that usual "coming of age" fodder. After all, her friends talk about that sort of stuff all the time... often putting Alice down for being so clueless about everything.

Enter Sheryl (Juliette Lewis) the seventeen year old flirty girl who lives next door to Alice. Evidently, she's got all this sex and boys and attraction stuff locked down with her endless parade of dates, flirty moves, captivating perfume, etc...

Alice secretly watches Sheryl from her bedroom window and wishes she could be her. She emulates Sheryl's scarves from Woolworth's...the music Sheryl listens to...her perfume. Needless to say, she is obsessed with her seventeen year old neighbor.

Then we have Sheryl's new boyfriend (played by C. Thomas Howell)...a guy with a shadowy past (wrong side of the tracks, and all that) who works (where else?) at the bowling alley. Sheryl and her new boyfriend are "in love" despite Sheryl's mom not approving of this relationship. Alice, of course, is infatuated with the union...believing in "true love". She ends up befriending Sheryl...helping to keep her "secrets" about the relationship, and growing more and more obsessed with, not only the girl next door, but the girl next door's love life with her bowling alley boyfriend.

Okay, at this point, you can probably figure out that this movie is cliche with a capital "C." And yes...you are right. It is an incredibly cliche and contrived plot...not really an ounce of originality in it, aside from the young girl next door being obsessed with it all and narrating about it...including her own feelings about life and love (along with her own parents apparent lack of love life), etc. But this is what saves the movie; this unique element of the young girl narrating what is, otherwise, a very thin-plotted cliche of a story.

Aside from all that, the movie is quite enjoyable to watch. It's almost refreshing, with all the newer in-your-face garbage that's out nowadays. But don't expect anything really deep, or any sort of wow-like twist at the end. It's just a "slice of life," plain and simple. With some good period music and decent acting. And charm. Charm which is hard to come by these days, so yea...that's worth something. I definitely do recommend the movie...

I only gave the movie a seven, though, because I think it all seems a little too contrived sometimes and there should have been some more depth. Like...why was Sheryl's mom so upset her daughter was seeing this guy? Honestly, he didn't seem like such a bad guy, so it didn't make a lot of sense.

And why does Alice keep hanging out with these kids (the ones who are her own age) who aren't very nice to her? One boy even forces a frog into her mouth at a birthday party! So that didn't seem entirely genuine, but oh well.. (All I could wonder was, did the actress really have that frog in her mouth)? And here's something else I wondered: Why don't these girls have any hobbies or interests (painting, music, sports) aside from sex and boys?