Voyage jusqu'au bout de la nuit

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")

Just came back from the premiere in the Tribeca Film Fest, and I must say I am very disappointed. I was looking forward to this film as it includes great American and Brazilian talent involved, but it all seemed wasted.

The audience in general did not seemed thrilled by the movie. An unexciting Q and A followed the screening and even the actor themselves (especially Mos Def) did not seem to be very interested in discussing the movie.

The plot is over the top, full of holes. The movie does not strike a balance between in gritty reality and supernatural elements. Many shockers (she-male sex scene, gore) only disgust, but do not add the the narrative power of the movie. Characters jump in and out of scenes without any development and explanation. Unintentional laughs all along the screening.

The city of Sao Paulo, Brazil was poorly used. It could have been just any other poor area in a third world country. Little do people know, the city is a megalopolis with much to be explored, but the filmmakers just used it for shock value. It is a poorly executed portrayal of a complex city. They could have very much used a sound stage.

The actors are obviously very talented, yet ultimately miscast. Brendan Fraser tries hard, but he is not born to play an asshole role. It just came over as over the top and preposterous. Scott Glenn was solid, as was Catalina. Mos Def is the standout though.

The filmmakers do not seem very confident of what language they want to use. While I appreciate the fact that locals spoke Portuguese with subtitles, even English speaking main characters every once in a while changed their language whilst in the middle of dialogue. It sounds phony, rehearsed and plainly sucks.

The plot attempts and Tarantino-esquire mish mash of characters that somehow inter wine - but they are so poorly developed that everything seems silly and point out to holes in the plot.

Believe me, I was looking forward to this and tried very hard to like it. If you are interested in gritty dramas about Brazilian suburbs, rent City of God, Central Station, heck, Mango Yellow instead.

TOO MUCH WASTED TALENT, and honestly, I blame on the director. This had a lot of potential. Gritty cinematography is of high quality though.

"Journey To The End Of The Night" is a disappointment.

The plot: Paul (Fraser) is a pimp who lives in Brazil with his father Russo (Glenn). They have a drug deal planned. Their mule suddenly dies, and, desperate, Russo asks dishwasher Wemba (Def) to replace him. It doesn't go exactly as planned....

The whole movie feels rushed. Something must have been cut out because it feels disjointed. There's no way this movie is 85 minutes long. If it was 2 hours it would've been better. The actors are good however. Def impresses again with a good performance. Fraser goes a little over the top but it works for his character. Glenn is always worth watching.

If you like the actors, JTTEOTN is worth seeing, but overall it's a minor disappointment.

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The film is a second feature by a director who had a film at Tribeca a few years ago which i never saw. This is a gritty pot boiler made in Brazil with an eclectic mix of famous faces and non-professional actors. The film is extremely violent but not without a soul. I particularly applaud Brendan Fraser for a stellar turn as the Bad Guy. Here is a part that he might well be remember for in years to come. Also very good is Scott Glenn and Mos Def. My favorite aspect of the film was the film score which was very emotional. I give it a solid 7 for those that like crime films. Beware there is a lot of blood in this one.

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.