Voyage jusqu'au bout de la nuit

The main reason why I knew for years about JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT is because it's one of Brendan Fraser's most obscure movies in the period he was everywhere with the MUMMY trilogy and LOONEY TUNES BACK IN ACTION. With his recent Oscar win (I saw this 9 months after it) I finally got around to it and I could see why Darren Aronofsky picked Fraser for THE WHALE after seeing this.

The story is set in Sao Paulo in Brasil. Exiled Americans Sinatra and his son Paul (Scott Glenn and Fraser) own a brothel: Sinatra is married to a former prostitute that gave him a son and Paul is a compulsive gambler suffering from addiction. After the first half-hour a Russian client is killed in their brothel and behind him it's a suitcase filled with drugs. With the back against the wall, Sinatra has to negotiate and lets Wemba, the Nigerian dishwasher of the brothel, go to the harbor and make the sale to the drug dealers.

Wemba accepts because she'll have a lot of money in exchange but after the sale she's attacked by two thieves and knocked unconcious. Unfortunately Wemba didn't had much of contacts with Sinatra and Paul and this causes a chain reaction of misunderstandings that lead to a tragic end. I would say that before it Paul blames himself for the mess because if he wasn't addicted he could have been in the right state of mind and Sinatra that blames himself for the exile that forced them to leave the US but for the rest it's best if you just see it for yourselves.

What makes this among the most underrated Fraser movie is the gloomy atmosphere because if you think of him you soon think of the MUMMY franchise, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE and FURRY VENGEANCE but he proved to be great in a different setting as well. Glenn as his dad was also very good as usual, and I loved him admitting his faults toward the end before the sacrifice. The ending was great and came out of nowhere.

Overall, I dare to call it a must see but it's still great for Fraser fans or experts of forgotten movies alike.

those are two words to describe this drama/thriller.when drugs and violence take over your life and you spiral out of control,there is no way out.that's the case with Paul(Brendan Fraser)who sees no future and nothing but despair.greed and(self)hatred are his best friends.Fraser puts in in an astounding performance here proving he really has some acting chops.Scott Glenn is also good as Sinatra,Paul's father.but by far,the best actor in my mind is Mos Def,who plays Wemba.he really loses himself in the role.there is a fair bit of very strong language and brutal violence in this film,so be warned.for me,Journey to the End of the Night is an 8/10

In a dark and decadent area of São Paulo, the exiled Americans Sinatra (Scott Glenn) and his son Paul (Brendan Fraser) own a brothel. Paul is a compulsive gambler addicted in cocaine and his father is married with the former prostitute Angie (Catalina Sandino Moreno), and they have a little son. When a client is killed by his wife in their establishment, they find a suitcase with drugs. In the night that they have scheduled a negotiation with African buyers, their African liaison dies while having sex with the travesty Nazda (Matheus Nachtergaele). Sinatra proposes to the Nigerian dishwasher of the brothel, Wemba (Mos Def), to travel to the harbor of Santos, close the business with the drug dealers and in return he would receive a large amount. Wemba accepts but while returning to his car in the harbor, he is attacked by two smalltime thieves and passes out. His lack of contact with Sinatra and Paul leads to a sequence of misunderstandings with a tragic end.

"Journey to the End of the Night" is a movie about losers that have a second chance in life, but waste it along a night of entwined mistakes. None of the characters is totally evil, they are ambiguous and develop a sort of empathy with the viewer. Scott Glenn plays an owner of a brothel, but also a family man concerned with the future of his son. The addicted and violent character of Brendan Fraser has a deep trauma from his childhood. Angie, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, is divided between Sinatra and Paul. Wemba, played by Mos Def, is a simple honest worker that accepts to participate in a dirty business to raise easy money. The excellent Brazilian actor Matheus Nachtergaele performs a travesty in a key role. Watching this film somehow I slightly recalled "After Hours", a comedy of errors in New York. The lighting uses weird colors (yellow, red, green) and together with the bad weather, highlights the underworld of a poor and dark area in the cold São Paulo, in a film-noir style. The story is predictable, there are many coincidences, but I liked this movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "12 Horas Até o Amanhecer" ("12 Hours Until Dawn")

What fun seeing a good ole fashion blood and guts, shoot 'em up noir. I felt like I was seeing a whole other side of the way crime thrillers could be made. This one uses sex, mostly in the backdrop and dialog in a hauntingly unerotic way--which speaks to the characters' misery and inability to feel pleasure. Not even sex or drugs can save them.

Journey's plot is secondary to the indelible, painterly images; so much like Christopher Doyle's work that I had to stop the DVD and see who the cinematographer was.

Scott Glenn rises to the occasion playing father and husband trying to make one last score so he can get out of the game. The old actor brings a lifetime of experience to the part. And really makes you invest emotionally in his plight. Also strong is Brendan Fraser, jumping out of his comedic pigeonhole and delivering an incredibly nuanced performance, at times funny, frightening and unforgettable.

I also watched the film at Tribeca and found it as a whole work to be interesting and entertaining. Sure there were flaws in the film itself but in total I enjoyed the camera work, the colors and the actors. I didn't have a problem with any of the actors on the screen. I thought Brandon Fraser was cast in a role that he normally doesn't play but that didn't take away from the movie if anything it added to it. He definitely had a presence on the screen as did Scott. The characters were also justified in their actions. Don't get me wrong there were flaws in the film I just felt that they were minimal. I went in expecting to watch a film that wasn't going to be very good and I ended up seeing something that I though was entertaining and interesting. The main character was not Brazil, there are movies where the city is the main character and the actors are there to move it along. This was very much character based film.