One woman. One night. Everything to lose. One of the most recent additions to Netflix’s original catalog is Night Always Comes, an adaptation of Willy Vlautin’s book of the same title. Night Always Comes follows Lynette, a woman who’s living on the poverty line, trying to support her mother and brother, who has Down syndrome. Her family is facing eviction, and right when Lynette thought that maybe things were looking up for them, her mother’s selfish decisions led to her having to embark on a journey throughout her city to obtain the money she needed.
Night Always Comes presents the viewer with a conflicting experience. At times, the film provides the viewer with breathtaking shots and thought-provoking takes on specific realistic issues. At other times, it offers flat characters and confusing plot points that are intentionally depressing for shock value rather than advancing the characters’ arcs.
The film’s strengths include Kenny and Lynette’s relationship. While the two actors’ chemistry does not always come across well on screen, their relationship is very clearly the emotional centerpiece of the plot. While their relationship may be well written, the pair is miscast, and they are not together for a large number of the emotional scenes of the film. The other good part of the film is the visuals. At times, the colors are muted and lifeless; at others, they are vibrant and eye-catching. Either way, the visuals usually fit well with the emotions that need to be conveyed in the scene. Aside from colors, another positive part of the visuals is the dynamic camera movements and interesting angles included in many scenes.
Sadly, these positive aspects of the film take up a very small portion of its runtime. A majority of the film is a confusing adventure full of depressing plot points that, while they seem intriguing on their own, feel shallow and underdeveloped within the context of the greater plot. At many times, the film takes the rules of “show, don’t tell” far too seriously, which leads to many important plot points becoming confusing and getting lost in the film trying to be deep and depressing.
The tone and story of the film make it obvious that it took lots of inspiration from and was attempting to fit into a category with films like Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem For A Dream, where the film is so memorable because of how depressed and awful it leaves the viewer feeling. One of the many differences between Night Always Comes and Requiem For A Dream is that the latter develops its characters and their struggles, which makes the depressing events in the film stick with the viewer. While Night Always Comes makes an effort to develop Lynette’s struggles within her own life, the shallow, generic writing–coupled with Vanessa Kirby’s performance–fails to sell the audience on these problems that the film needed so dearly to get right. Many films are capable of being good with an unlikeable lead, but, sadly, Night Always Comes is not one of them.
The film often uses jarring or disturbing concepts and visuals to add shock value, but these elements often feel abruptly placed without a proper setup. This leads to a confusing plot that often feels like it’s jumping all over the place rather than being concise. The conclusion of the film also feels sudden and randomly placed. It just ends with no arcs for Lynette. She ends the film as practically the same person she was in the beginning. In fact, she’s arguably worse since the only thing she learns from the events that transpire in the film is that her actions do not have consequences and everyone else in her life is the problem. While they often are, she still must take accountability for her actions.
Night Always Comes possesses a plot with so much potential to be a heartbreaking and fantastic character-driven film, but due to poor execution of the casting and writing, as well as underdeveloped themes, it falls flat. While the visuals are striking and the relationship between the two leads has great aspects, none of these factors offer enough good to make up for the rest of the film. Night Always Comes is a film that could have had so much to say, but sadly, this great potential is wasted on what I can only describe as underwhelming.
