Night Comes On

Magnificently performed against the backdrop of a broken system, where opportunity is destroyed, in this case by those closest to you, and the safety net is stuffed full of drowning fish just like you too.

As "Night Comes On" (2018 release; 86 min.) opens, a young lady (we later learn her name is Angel) is bring released from jail, after serving time for unlawful possession of a weapon. (Why did she need a weapon in the first place?) Her first stop: a gun dealer. Afterwards she looks up some friends in Phillie, hoping to find a place to crash, if only for the night. At this point we are less than 10 min into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the feature length directing debut of actress Jordana Spiro (she also co-wrote the script). Here she brings us a look at what an 18 yr old faces upon getting released from jail. Let's just say that the odds are not in her favor to succeed. The hard-nosed Parole Officer does her no favors. And where is her family in all this? These questions play out over the movie. Spiro gets an excellent lead performance from Dominique Fishback in her feature length debut role (she would go on to "The Hate U Give" and last year's :Judas and the Black Messiah"). In the end, the film is okay, but it feels like something more profound could've been done with this. All that aside, Spiro's directing debut is quite promising, and I look forward to see where she goes from here.

"Night Comes On" premiered at the 2018 Sundance film festival. I was recently made aware of its existence by a positive read-up in the New York Times recently. The movie is now streaming on Amazon Prime, where I caught it last night. If you are in the mood for a heavy duty post-jail drama, I'd readily suggest you check it out, and draw your own conclusion.

Angel is an 18 year-old girl (Dominique Fishback) released from prison. She has no one to turn to and stay with other than her lesbian girlfriend and has little family, but makes contact with her 10 year-old sister (Tatum Marilyn-Hall). However, Angel has only one thing on her mind and that is to avenge the death of her mother at the hands of their father who murdered their Mom.

A film about the cycle of violence, familial dysfunction in a film led by two outstanding performances by its young actors. It is very downbeat and an often grim film, but is ultimately very rewarding.

Yes it is slow at times. And your heart does go or to them both. Both let down by life. But it is gripping, well after and worth watching. Makes you think.

Starts out slow and continues slow all the way to the slow ending... This seems like it might be a true story that someone it trying to tell, But, it just doesn't go anywhere.

The acting was not the problem, It's the incomplete story. Maybe they didn't have a budget, I just don't know. I'm giving it 5 stars only because the girls made an effort.

After we viewed the movie, everyone was asking me: "Why Did We Watch It?"