Night Moves (2013)
Directed by: Kelly
Reichardt.
Written by: Jonathan
Raymond & Kelly Reichardt.
Starring: Jesse
Eisenberg (Josh), Dakota Fanning (Dena), Peter Sarsgaard (Harmon), Alia Shawkat
(Surprise), Logan Miller (Dylan), Kai Lennox (Sean), Katherine Waterston
(Anne), James Le Gros (Feed Factory Clerk), Traber Charles Burns (Felix), Autumn
Nidalmia (Mable), Barry Del Sherman (Corser), Joel Polinsky (Goose).
I
remember watching Night Movies at TIFF in 2013, and thinking that it was a
surprisingly conventional thriller for a director like Kelly Reichardt – whose
previous film, Meek’s Cutoff, was anything but a conventional Western. It was a
little slower than most thrillers – but the basically structure and payoff,
where very classically thriller. Watching it again for the first time since
then, what struck me about Night Moves is that even if the plot is classic
thriller, that Reichardt takes her time in slowly building everything, in
slowly establishing everything. The film is basically cut in half by an act of
violence in the middle – and the first half is better than the second – but
even if the characters in the film are basically pawns to the narrative, the
film never feels like that.
The
first strange decision by Reichardt is casting Jesse Eisenberg in the lead role
of Josh. Josh is not a typically Eisenberg character – he doesn’t talk a mile a
minute – often, he barely talks at all. He works on an organic farm in the
Pacific Northwest, and believes that people need a wake-up call. Even before
the film begins (continuing a Reichardt tradition of sorts, of starting movies
after their plot has already begun) – he has started planning a bombing of a
damn – alongside his friend Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard, who was once a Marine) and
another friend from the farm – Dena (Dakota Fanning) – perhaps a rich girl slumming
it for a while, but certainly committed. The explosion will be more symbolic
than anything – but for them, it will serve as a wakeup call – and a call to
arms. Enough with making documentaries about the problem of Climate Change. You
have to do something.
The
first half of the movie is everything leading up to that explosion. It is a
slow motion procedural of everything the trio does to prepare – buying a boat,
in cash, while Josh and Dena act as a couple. Sending Dena into the farm supply
store to try and buy a lot of fertilizer – the change that you can make into
explosives – and getting a lot of lowkey tension in the suspicions of the
manager (a wonderful James Le Gros – who come to think of it, is always
wonderful in these roles). And then, the setting of the explosion itself – and
the getaway. The film builds an unreal amount of tension, considering that it
doesn’t have anything resembling shootouts or car chases, etc. It just slowly,
and methodically, builds that tension.
The
second half of the film is the fallout of the explosion. It both goes according
to plan, and has some unintended consequences that they all have to live with.
Harmon can do so without much effort – Josh has some interior struggle, but
certainly doesn’t want to get caught. Dena though – perhaps realizing she isn’t
really cut out for this, and maybe becomes a loose cannon.
Again,
the tension in the second half is built slowly – through conversations, in
which people subtly intuit what has happened, but don’t really want to get
involved. It leads to where it must. While it is true that more than any of
Reichardt’s other film, Night Moves is a more traditional, narrative driven
film – with characters at the service of the plot more than being the central
driving force of the film, the film also never loses focus on them. It requires
the performances – particularly that of Eisenberg – to do a lot of heavy
lifting, with not a lot of dialogue to explain everything. While I won’t say
it’s the best performance Eisenberg has ever given – I do think it’s second to
his brilliant performance in The Social Network, and the exact opposite of that
performance in many ways.
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