Monday, September 29, 2014

Night Moves

Do me a favor and think about a recent time you got together with a friend to hang out. Maybe you went to happy hour, maybe you had dinner; you’re meeting up with someone you likely meet up with often. You shoot the shit, tell jokes, share laughs. Now, think about what you really said to this person while you were with them. You’ve known them for a while, so there was probably no reason to, for example, keep repeating their name back to them. Or recall stories you’ve already told too many times. You don’t need to do these things, because there’s a shorthand to your interactions. An ease that makes hanging out with them enjoyable. If a camera were present to film your time together, what was captured may not make a lot of sense to people who don’t know you. We wouldn’t have any context to help us better understand the familiarity you and your friend have.

This is a notion Kelly Reichardt chooses to root her films in. All of her movies capture a time and place, and care little about offering context to the viewer. To say her films feel like documentaries is inaccurate. They’re far too well shot and seamlessly assembled to feel real. Her characters do speak, however, how people in real life actually speak. And that’s what I’m getting at. Writing how people talk is a lost art. In real life, rarely do we recount tireless exposition and begin (and/or end) our sentences with the first name of the person we’re talking to. And I get it. Exposition, context, endless detail – it all makes the film audience more comfortable. There’s no catching up or thinking. But in terms of Reichardt’s films, I’m not sure “comfort” is in her vocabulary. She never spells things out. She instead asks us to sit and observe. Watch, pay attention, listen. What is on the screen is just the right amount of information we need.
While watching her latest (and perhaps best) film, Night Moves, I immediately became enthralled in the manner in which Josh (Jesse Eisenberg, as foreboding and mean as he gets) and Dena (Dakota Fanning, dirty and greasy and brilliant) spoke to one another. There’s a shorthand that makes it clear that they know each other. A shared nervous tension that lets us know conflict will soon unfold. They say little to one another because, at this point, what is there left to say?

Shortly into the film, the two embark on a long drive that could be a perfect opportunity to explain to the audience what the hell is happening. “So, Josh, let’s run through the plan again, okay?” Dena might ask in a lesser film. Instead, they bitch at each other about how long the drive is, arguing how long is long, and the like. One might argue that Reichardt’s films are dominated by these mundane details. That’s fair, but rarely is mundane captured so eloquently.

You’ll have to forgive me. I never take this long to describe what the film is about, but Night Moves is different. Having let the film sit for a few days now, I suppose I’m more interested in how Reichardt chose to execute her story, rather than the story itself, which is, to be clear, consistently interesting. Early in the film, we realize that Josh and Dena are planning to commit a significant crime that supports their cause as environmentalists. They enlist a man named Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard, dangerously blasé) to help, and together, the three finalize their plan for (seemingly) rapid environmental change. There’s far more to the film than just their planning, but revealing more would lessen the appeal.
Every time a new Kelly Reichardt movie comes out (in the past decade she’s released Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff and Night Moves, all to enthusiastic critical praise), detractors cry afoul that the film is too slow, too boring, too mundane. Right, but what if you’re intention is to make a slow film? Slow doesn’t necessarily equate to dull, but rather to a filmmaking style that many may not be used to.

Very few current American filmmakers tell stories the way Kelly Reichardt tells them. In Night Moves, for example, she proves that buying a large amount of fertilizer can be as tense and thrilling as discovering how that fertilizer is eventually used. Reichardt’s films certainly aren’t for everyone, but her unique, subtle, human stories are ones that I find endlessly compelling, no matter how mundane they dare to be. B+

18 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you dug this movie. I saw this one a few weeks back and it's probably in my top 10 of the year so far. I'm a big fan of Reichardt's style of film making, the slow, melancholic, and atmospheric way she tells her stories I, personally, find enthralling and powerful. I remember reading about how this was her attempt at doing a thriller, and while I'm sure many will fail to see it as such, this is probably more unnerving and chilling than most thrillers as well. Though I will have to disagree with the critics who've called it Hitchcock-ian, I didn't get that at all. I also found the ending to be incredibly powerful and haunting (as well as completely unexpected).

    Also, did you find Eisenberg's character mean? I didn't get that from his performance at all, I mean he's certainly cold and distant and calculating but I don't know if I ever felt that he was "mean" per se.

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    1. So first off, mean. I think there's an overall meanness to much of Eisenberg's work. Snarky, cold, calculating, all traits I think he displays often, and all things I would, essentially, describe as mean. Not like, "Ohh he hurt my feelings, wah wah wahhh." But just fuckin' mean. So, while I like the adjectives you used better to describe his character, yeah, I thought Josh (or Mark Zuckerberg, or Walt Berkman, or James Simon) was a mean dude. Pissed off at life and lashing out, though to a very subtle degree.

      But anyway, what's important is that we both dug the flick and are being vocal about our adoration, you know? I didn't get a chance to touch on it in my review, but that ending, yeah... so good. The absolutely best possible time to cut out.

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  2. I'm planning to see this in November as I'm going to embark on a marathon of horror, thrills, and weird films for October as I'm definitely a fan of Kelly Reichardt with Wendy & Lucy being my favorite as she is someone who refuses to play by the rules. I think she always intends for her films to be slow and meditative as she's more concerned about telling a story visually rather than going for anything that is conventional in terms of plot and such.

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    1. Hell yeah man, definitely a director who refuses to play by the rules. Very well said. I think you'll like this one. It's right up there with Wendy & Lucy as my favorite Reichardt film. Very tight call.

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  3. I found Night Moves to be intriguing for the exact reason you mention, Alex. The characters say so little, so we're forced to figure out much of it by watching subtle hints or changes in expression. It's a slow ride and I can see it frustrating some viewers, but it was intriguing I also didn't expect it to go to such dark places in the end.

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    1. Oh same here. I really didn't think Reichardt would push it that far, but it felt so appropriate. And that ending... wow. Thanks for reading, Dan!

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  4. Night Moves stunned me. This was my first Kelly Reichardt movie, so I didn't really know what to expect. I just absolutely loved the slowness, and the coldness and the lack of talking between the characters, since I think it's just brilliant when a director actually wants the audience to be engaged in the movie and to think while watching it, and that ending... wow. Eisenberg, Sarsgaard and especially Fanning were all great. I must see Reichardt's other movies immediately! Great review! :)

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    1. Thanks Aditya! So happy to hear you liked this one. Fanning in particular floored me here. I'm so pleased that she's going after adult, mature roles. She's so damn natural.

      Now, I will say that this is easily Reichardt's most accessible movie yet, but it seems like you dig the stillness of her films, so I think you'll enjoy her other work. Let me know what you think!

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  5. Caught this one recently. I'd give Night Moves a 7/10 or 8/10. The performances were spot on, I agree feels realistic for the most part, and it does raise important questions about responsibility of actions. But the weakness for me is a running time of 112 minutes. I feel the filmmakers could easily have told the same story in 90 min(or less). Still, I'd probably rank Night Moves second behind only Wendy and Lucy, with Meek's Cutoff and Old Joy 3rd and 4th.

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    1. You know, while I'd be interested in seeing a 90 minute cut of this film, I do wonder if that would all but remove the stillness I liked about it. It'd be an interesting, Soderbergh-esque exercise, for sure. Either way, I'm glad you dug it as is. It's right up there with Wendy and Lucy as my favorite of her films.

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  6. Human stories are sometimes the best ones. And I like the young cast of this one. Seems like something worth checking out! Nice review, Alex!

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    1. Thanks Kristin! It's definitely a slow-burn, this film. But I promise its ending will give you something to think about.

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  7. Those first two paragraphs are just such an eloquent, spot-on descriptor of how Reichardt writes. What you're talking about is one of the things that totally grabbed me about this one too - the interaction between characters, and the way she gives each one an individual voice. I mean, God, is that a lost art or what? One of the best films I've seen this year.

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    1. Thanks man, I really appreciate that. My journalism background always dissuades me from beginning any piece of writing with a cold open, but it just felt right here, you know? The more I think about this movie, the more I like it. I'm still mulling over that ending.

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  8. Hey Alex,

    Matt here. Glad to hear you enjoyed this! I don't think I can add much to the conversation that hasn't already been said. Your review above articulated my thoughts better than I ever could. I will say that, ever since seeing Wendy & Lucy, Reichardt is a director whose works I will continue to champion. Upon meeting someone with similar cinematic tastes as myself, she's always at the top of my list of recommendations. A truly underrated gem.

    Oh, and by the way, I'm the same Matt from the Calvary review a few months back. I know I'm not one of the regular commenters on here, but I still make a point to check out the site fairly often. Yours remains one of the best film blogs I've come across! For reals.

    Hope all's well with you.

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    1. Hey Matt, I really appreciate you stopping by and checking out the reviews. No worries at all about commenting, I'm just thankful you spend part of your day looking at the site!

      Night Moves was a really solid flick. I wish it "lived longer" in theaters and On Demand. I haven't really heard anyone mention it since it was released. Such a damn tough business.

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  9. Glad you liked this one. I'll be checking it out very soon.

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    1. Very interesting little film. I'm still thinking about the ending.

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