Night Always Comes Review: Benjamin Caron’s Uneven Single-Night Crime Drama Features Vanessa Kirby’s Engrossing Performance
Fresh off her scene-stealing turn in Fantastic Four, Vanessa Kirby plays a more down-to-earth role in Night Always Comes. A desperate woman on the verge of a breakdown because she’s about to lose her home and faces eviction. She has no other place to live. The house, despite its dilapidated condition, is the only dependable shelter. She doesn’t live alone, but her mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) isn’t much of a help, while her older brother Kenny (Zack Gottsagen), who has Down syndrome, needs all their care and attention.
Lynette may be working two jobs — one at a factory and taking up a shift at a bar — but neither of them pays well. Her current situation reflects the news reports right from the beginning, talking about how prices have skyrocketed while the average Americans suffer from job and housing crises. For Lynette, played by Kirby, everything will be falling apart. Luckily, their landlord agrees to sell them the house at a fair price.
Except that the money supposedly used for the house is all gone, thanks to Lynette’s ignorant mother. She spends it all on something that’s not going to make things better. And the worst thing is that Lynette only has a few hours to come up with US$25,000 before 9 am tomorrow, as the landlord demands it. No delay, no excuse. Money or get evicted. How is it possible to gather such a large sum on short notice?
Adapted from Wily Vlautin’s 2021 novel of the same name, it’s a road of desperation from here on: Lynette, who also moonlights as a sex worker, first meets up with her client, Scott (Randall Park), at a bar. But all the flirting and convincing him to lend her the money she needs only ends with Scott laughing at her problem. He doesn’t care since all he wants is sex, and she’ll get paid for her service. A double, even though that doesn’t mean much for Lynette.
The movie takes place in a single night, and such a premise is always intriguing to see how a protagonist survives or overcomes a trying ordeal. In this case, she has a deadline to meet. Tick, tock, complete with the timestamp, appears on the screen in certain moments. Directed by Benjamin Caron, who previously helmed Apple TV+’s uneven con-man thriller Sharper, he does a good job pulling off some riveting moments earlier on. This is especially true with a scene of Lynette stealing her client’s key fob and driving away in his red Mercedes belongs to his wife.
The story progresses with her trying to seek help from her former escort friend, Gloria (Julia Fox), for a loan, and how she decides to get the safe open from Gloria’s posh apartment. The whole getting-the-money-out-of-the-safe stretch is where the movie gains traction. Lynette soon enlists the help of her co-worker and an ex-convict, Cody (Stephan James), to open the safe. But he can’t do it alone and knows someone who can crack the safe. It’s hardly rocket science to see where this is going since things revolving around getting the money illegally aren’t going to be pretty.
The stakes are there, but it was short-lived as the movie progresses further. The erratic pacing creeps in, and so does the subsequent exposition meant to reveal more, though in a series of fragmented flashbacks about Lynette’s past. The rest of the movie begins to lose its momentum with the later introductions of other characters played by Michael Kelly and Eli Roth, even though the two did their best with the roles given.
It doesn’t help either when the third act leads to an underwhelming finale, culminating in a scene between Lynette and her mother. Let’s just say it all feels anticlimactic, and that’s a pity, especially given Kirby’s engaging lead performance as Lynette. She’s the main reason that keeps me watching as the story unfolds, even though the cracks and crevices gradually unveil themselves. The movie is technically proficient, notably on Damián García’s nighttime cinematography shot on location in Portland, while credits also go to Adam Janota Bzowski for his atmospheric score.
Night Always Comes is currently streaming on Netflix.
