Evening Gathering Assessment: Vanessa Kirby delivers an impressive performance, yet the impoverished amusement park portrayal fails to warrant the admission cost
In the world of cinema, two films are set to make a significant impact, offering contrasting yet compelling narratives.
Night Always Comes, a crime thriller drama, is a gripping tale of survival and resilience, starring Vanessa Kirby as Lynette. The film, directed by Benjamin Caron and adapted from Willy Vlautin's 2021 novel, follows Lynette's desperate attempt to raise $25,000 in a single night to save her home, shared with her developmentally disabled brother and mother in Portland.
Critics have praised Kirby's performance for its depth and exhausted realism, portraying a woman trapped by circumstance yet fighting to improve her life. The film's structure and tension, supported by a strong ensemble cast including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, and Randall Park, have been commended for depicting the harsh realities of poverty and trauma convincingly.
However, some critics suggest the movie skirts deeper social commentary on class and gender inequality, hinting at broader issues without fully engaging them, resulting in a somewhat restrained impact despite its potent premise.
Meanwhile, Oslo Stories: Love, the third film in the Oslo Stories trilogy, is an understated, patient, and disarming film, streaming on Netflix from August 15th. Directed by a Golden Bear-winning director, Dag Johan Haugerud, the film struggles to differentiate between penury and cop-show-brand lawlessness.
The main character in Oslo Stories: Love is desperate to buy a house to keep social services away from her brother who has Down syndrome. However, the film's portrayal of poverty feels strained and inauthentic, with contrived meetings between the main character and her former pimp, and a theme-park portrayal of poverty.
While Night Always Comes deals with themes of financial struggle and criminality, Oslo Stories: Love offers a more subtle exploration of love and family, albeit with a less convincing portrayal of the struggles faced by its characters.
Both films offer a raw and unflinching look at the lives of their characters, but it is up to the viewer to decide which narrative resonates more deeply.
References: 1. [URL for Night Always Comes information] 2. [URL for Vanessa Kirby's performance review] 3. [URL for film structure and tension review] 4. [URL for mixed responses review] 5. [URL for IMDb ratings]
"The engaging narratives of 'Night Always Comes' and 'Oslo Stories: Love', two upcoming films in the realms of movies-and-tv and entertainment, provide starkly different portrayals of resilience and struggle."
"In 'Night Always Comes', Vanessa Kirby delivers an impactful performance as Lynette, a woman battling poverty and criminality, offering a gripping depiction of entertainment that raises profound questions about class and gender inequalities."
