NINETOES VS. NIGHT ALWAYS COMES

Nineotes saw the adaptation of Willy Vlautin’s THE NIGHT ALWAYS COMES… but we want to know if the missing THE made a difference.

Directed by Benjamin Caron

Written by Willy Vlautin and Sarah Conradt

Starring Vanessa Kirby, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Zack Gottsagen

Hey there, movie lovers! It is your old pal, Ninetoes, and today I am looking at Benjamin Caron’s Night Always Comes, starring Vanessa Kirby. I have popcorn in my system and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it!

Lynette’s life is a mess. She is doing everything she can to keep a roof over her family’s head, literally. She has a meeting in the afternoon to buy the house they are renting. Sure, it is a dump, and to call it a fixer-upper would be giving it points, but it would be theirs, and they would not have to live on the street. All that has to happen is her mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) has to meet her at the lawyers’ with the $25,000 down payment to co-sign the loan. But Mom has other ideas. She spends the money on a new car. Lynette has until 9:30 the following morning to raise the $25,000 to keep the roof over their heads.

The keyword for this movie is frantic. Right after the initial setup of mom buying the car, to the end, it is go go go go go with a capital GO! Vanessa Kirby does a masterful job portraying a woman on her last leg, desperate to find a solution to her problem. As she moves from questionable decision to questionable decision, I was left wondering two things: 1) Will her sanity check out for good, and 2) Will all of these questionable decisions catch up to her? Just to give you an idea of some of her questionable decisions, 1) she steals a hookup’s car and just abandons it, 2) she and a coworker steal a safe, 3) she and a friend take the safe to a safecracker who lives in a beyond sketchy part of town. Along the way, she has to take her special needs brother with her so she can keep an eye on him. Just when you think things cannot get worse, the hook comes at the end that brings everything full circle.

This movie is dark and well-written. It asks the question “How far would you go to keep a roof over your head?”, and then takes the viewer on an odyssey through the seediest, darkest, grittiest parts of a city to answer it. The settings in the movie match to overall tone to the point that afterwards, I asked myself if I should get a tetanus shot just to be on the safe side. The acting was across the board excellent. Everything melded together to give a really good movie experience.

But as good as the movie is, there are parts for me that were just unbelievable. Case in point, she steals this high-end car from a guy she just slept with, and abandons it. Granted, it was a moment of not thinking something through, and when she takes somebody back to the car a couple of hours later, they are both amazed it is sitting there with the door still open, totally intact. If you are going to jack the car, and you have a bit of a history in non-legal lifestyle, wouldn’t you have an in with a chop shop? Especially if you are going to up and take the car?

This movie is perfect for fans of family drama, frantic paces, and excellent acting.

I give it 4 popcorn buckets out of 5!

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.