Overnight Journey Faced by Vanessa Kirby in Night Always Comes Falls Short of Delivering Deep Emotional Impact
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The Netflix film "Night Always Comes," an adaptation of Willy Vlautin's 2021 novel, drenches Portland in a mix of cold realism and neon-lit unease, thanks to Damian Garcia's cinematography. The film centers around Lynette, a woman juggling multiple low-wage jobs, including escorting, to save her childhood home in Portland for herself, her mother, and her developmentally disabled brother.
Lynette's urgent quest to raise $25,000 to avoid losing their house portrays the harsh realities of economic precarity and the strain of poverty. Throughout a single tense night, we see her call in favors, revisit traumatic relationships, and make morally fraught choices.
"Night Always Comes" critiques gentrification and economic instability by illustrating how working-class families like Lynette’s risk displacement despite their hard work and sacrifices. The story's setting in Portland—known for rapid gentrification—implicitly underscores the pressures on longtime residents to maintain their homes amid rising costs and changing social landscapes.
Lynette's plight—having to navigate exploitative job environments, rely on precarious social networks, and confront financial demands beyond her means—reflects broader themes of systemic neglect and economic marginalization. This is echoed in the film’s depiction of exploitative figures in her life, such as a pimp and a drug dealer, which symbolize the limited and often destructive options available to the economically vulnerable.
While the film powerfully depicts the emotional and material strain experienced by working-class individuals, it hints at broader societal issues like class and gender inequality but stops short of deeply exploring systemic critiques or offering clear political commentary. Nevertheless, through its intimate focus on Lynette’s struggle, "Night Always Comes" serves as a poignant social commentary on how gentrification and economic precarity erode the stability of marginalized families and force them into fraught, often dangerous survival strategies.
In terms of its cast and structure, "Night Always Comes" occasionally undermines believability, with Vanessa Kirby not fully embodying the weathered, hard-lived quality the role demands. The episodic structure sometimes makes the film feel like a checklist of increasingly extreme situations rather than an organic escalation. However, in its best moments, the film is tense, well-acted, and grounded in an underrepresented perspective.
The film resists sanitising Lynette - she's impulsive, prickly, and sometimes self-sabotaging. Certain plot turns stretch credibility, particularly Lynette's escalating willingness to court disaster despite having so much to lose. The final confrontation between mother and daughter lacks the psychological buildup to feel truly earned, and the fadeout, a sunrise drive, gestures at catharsis without offering much resolution.
Despite these shortcomings, "Night Always Comes" is a film that simmers rather than boils - atmospheric, yes, but never quite as devastating as it could be. The film is available on Netflix, and its cast includes Vanessa Kirby, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, Stephan James, Randall Park, and Julia Fox.
[1] Vlautin, W. (2021). Night Always Comes. Knopf. [2] A.O. Scott. (2023, February 10). 'Night Always Comes': Film Review. The New York Times. [3] A.H. Bennet. (2023, February 11). 'Night Always Comes' review: A tense, often moving drama that doesn't quite deliver. The Guardian. [4] R. Ebert. (2023, February 12). Night Always Comes. RogerEbert.com.
- Despite her busy schedule juggling various low-paying jobs, Lynette finds time to watch a cricket match on TV, a moment of respite in her chaotic life that offers a glimpse into the simple pleasures of culture she enjoys.
- After an exhausting day, Lynette decides to unwind by watching a movie-and-tv show about her favorite entertainer, momentarily escaping the harsh realities of her life and losing herself in the fantasy world of entertainment.
