La nuit se traîne

I was surprised with this one.

Tons of action, unpredictable story, the twists are well written, acting is impressive, better than anticipated, good storyline, gets going right out of the gate, heartwarming, gut wrenching and an overall,a good flick. I would watch it again, not something I do with most movies. I'd recommend this one to most although the level of violence is pretty intense at times, so it's not for "everyone."

I wouldn't say the story is entirely original, however I haven't seen the same plot that I can recall, but have seen movies with the same general storyline but there's no stealing of ideas and the filming and location was stimulating as the area was entirely foreign to me personally.

Although 'La nuit se traîne' is set in Brussels, it has all the characteristics of a run-of-the-mill thriller from Hollywood. A gentleman-criminal living in a luxury high rise overlooking the city? Check. A high speed car chase ending in a crash? Check. A man escaping from his pursuers by entering a subway car that's about to leave the platform? Check. Two creepy looking thugs using violence againt anyone standing in their way? Check.

These tired Hollywood clichés and the abundance of violence stand in the way of what this film could have been: an original and well-written nail-biter with an interesting social dimension. The screenplay is clever enough. The film takes place during one night, in which locksmith Mady is drawn against his will into a dirty affair which keeps on getting more complicated and, for him, more life-threatening. In order to safe his life, he has to retrieve a large sum of cash before dawn. The events take place against the background of a large Black Lives Matter-demonstration.

But instead of concentrating on the story, the film takes unnecessary detours, and fails to explain some improbabilities. On the plus side, the director has put a lot of effort in filming the nocturnal streets of Brussels, and succeeds in showing the city from a nice aesthetic perspective. For viewers who are familar with the city, trying to recognize the locations is a nice game.

Or is it bad call? No pun intended either way. For a first time feature length movie this really is well done. Especially the camera work (be it a car chase or a foot chase ... the movement of the camera is really one of the stars - if not the star of it all.

On the other hand this has quite a few issues with logic. And I mean the internal logic of the movie. As in what it tells us and what it shows us. There is a situation where one person could shoot another person .... which obviously would end the movie prematurely. There are other things that would make sense, but the pace of the movie likely helps you not to overthink the whole thing ... life matters ... and your own even more than others. So social commentary? A little for sure ... but is more interested in telling a suspenseful story ... than anything else.

Night Call is a taut, well-shot, well-acted action thriller that's also the first feature film by Belgian director Michiel Blanchart. It's honestly hard to believe that it's his first film-this carries the tension of a Safdie Brothers thriller, and the action is slick, realistic, and superbly executed (fully taking place at night). Blanchart cites Duel, Training Day, and Collateral as inspirations. For an actioner, Night Call also deserves praise for actually bothering to develop its lead characters (and their respective arcs) and set it against the backdrop of a BLM protest. Great performances from its core cast-Jonathan Feltre (Mady), Natacha Krief (Claire), Jonas Bloquet (Theo), and Romain Duris (Yannick). There are some clichés too, such as the "big bad villain in a suit", a car chase that ends in a crash, etcetera. But that doesn't stop it from being one of the most impressive directorial debuts in recent times.

I liked the acting especially from the guy who played the main character but the ending fell flat and was very unsatisfying. The story itself had it's moments however, there were too many situations where the main character made silly or very bad decisions or where the scenes felt too "convenient" for the sake of pushing the story along. I. E. The scene with Theo and Mady in the car with the female activist or the club scene. This film had a lot of potential but the execution was basic and ok. It didn't leave a lasting impression on me. The actors were great. I just wish their talents were displayed in a better script. The guy who played "Mady" is a very talented actor. I look forward to seeing him in more projects.