Night Moves (2013)

"It'll all go fast in the end. Once the marine biodiversity goes, everything goes with it."

I was unfamiliar with Kelly Reichardt until Night Moves, but I had heard several great things from her direction in Meek's Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy. Night Moves has also received many praises from critics so I really don't know how I will feel about her other films because this one was a disappointment for me. Perhaps I don't get her style of filmmaking but the entire film felt tedious and there wasn't any tension. For a movie that is centered on a character driven plot I really didn't feel like I learned much about these three radical environmentalists. What motivates them to take these extreme measures? All we know is that they are environmentalists, but I didn't feel like they had any distinct trait. The pacing of this film was really slow and at times I felt like abandoning it, but I continued to watch in hopes that the plot got better. After all, Hollywood Report compared it to the the suspenseful Hitchcock films of the 50's. The final third act of the film was the worst considering some of the decisions made felt completely out of character. Night Moves lacked soul and purpose, I really never managed to get into it despite how much I liked the cast. It was a numbing experience for me and no matter how gorgeous the Oregon landscape was, I simply never bought into the story. Reichardt loves to use steady shots and let the action unfold in front of us, but they were as tedious as the the slow pacing of the film. Nature might be captured beautifully in Night Moves, but the characters' motivations were really hard to believe at times. I tend to enjoy low key films, but for a character driven one I really didn't see much development going on. Yes, Eisenberg's character is alienated, Fanning's is strong willed, and Sarsgaard's is the most adventurous, but other than that we don't get much from their restrained performances. I might be on the minority here so I will give Reichardt another chance and check out one of her previous films to see if I enjoy it better than Night Moves.

I wouldn't have a problem with a slow burner like Night Moves if the final result was a rewarding experience, but the third act is even less engaging than the previous ones. I can't simply enjoy a film because it's restrained and it's nice to look at. Sure some of the steady long shots looked cool, but after a while it too becomes tedious as the characters in this film. Eisenberg received a lot of praise for his performance here, although I really never bought into his character's motivations. The strongest performance for me came from Peter Sarsgaard who was much more believable and understandable. Dakota Fanning had some interesting scenes as well, but I still had a hard time getting engaged with their characters. Comparisons with The East were almost inevitable for me considering the theme of this film, but somehow I didn't enjoy this as much as Batmanglij's film. That film despite having several flaws managed to maintain the tension throughout most of its running time unlike what I felt with Night Moves which simply failed to deliver suspense or any real drama.

Fmovies: The film comes down to the raw basic of film making as it tells a very suspenseful story of three environmentalist about to become Eco terrorist.

The movie's best quality is that it's real low key. They don't try to hide the purpose of the movie or why they are doing anything. They keep this artistic freedom to a low,so the movie is not frustrating or hard to follow.

Which is good because this movie is painfully slow. No real action is in the movie. All the best action is done off camera so you just have to imagine what's going on, which is not hard cause the focus of the movie is clear.

I myself found the movie enjoyable, but I will admit there a lot of slow parts that I almost fell asleep on.

After making a modest splash in festivals last year garnering a few fans, Night Moves didn't gel to the public as neatly upon its release. It's easy to see, it's not an immediately rewarding film and you have to be in the mood for its slow burn. Fortunately I was and I loved its aesthetic. It's not exactly Blue Ruin, but why can't all films these days look like this? Although it deliberately pushes us away from the characters keeping its cards close to its chest, it quietly holds tension throughout, even after the intelligently anticlimactic deed is done. It's quite well written and patient, with characters having to be resourceful to get out of real conflict, it showcases the finest points of the acting. It's certainly an improvement on Reichardt's unconvincing 'Western' Meek's Cutoff which was a chore to get through. This has something ambiguous to say about the morality of environmental radicals. However, it's such a shame that it delegates itself to paranoid clichés and weak open endings in its final 15 minutes when even Jesse Eisenberg doesn't know what to do with the material he's given that it holds the whole film back and leaves it on a sour note. It's whole second half slowed down to a halt to a point where it really depended on how it ended and it let itself down. Still a solid film though.

7/10

Night Moves fmovies. For anyone familiar with famed indie director Kelly Reichardt's work you know what you're in for with Night Moves. Reichardt specializes in a sort of pondering, slow paced narrative that has seen her reach some great heights (Wendy and Lucy) and some real lowlights (Meeks Cutoff) that now with Night Moves has seen her move into an interesting new direction without losing the style that has gained her a steady stream of critical praise over her years in the industry.

This new direction we speak of is that of the eco/environmental thriller, a new sub-genre that has sprung up in recent years as the continued focus on the earth's natural demise has been more prevalent. Reichardt's slow burn pacing and nearly non-existent background work actually works incredibly well in setting up Moves central plot devise, that of an act of eco-terrorism in the blowing up of an energy dam.

For the first hour or so here Reichardt ratchets up the tension to an incredible level and it's not through scripting or clever edits, merely through a methodical pacing that almost feels as if it's playing out in real time, making the audience feel a part of whatever is about to go down. Once the films central act becomes old news the film takes on a less effective yet in the end scenes, tension riddled aspect that sees Reichardt's cast come to the forefront.

Everyone's favourite bundle of nervous edginess Jesse Eisenberg is front and centre here in Moves and his natural persona fits perfectly for the characters of Josh, a young man clearly dedicated yet not overly ready for the repercussions of his actions, even if they are in theory, for good. Eisenberg is ably supported by another grown up turn by Dakota Fanning who can still deliver dialogue in a unique way and Peter Sarsgaard in another one of his somewhat creepy loner roles. The lead cast of three produce an uneasy and well played out chemistry that fits this tale well and along with Jeff Grace's moody score and Christopher Blauvelt's stoic cinematography, creates a real unique feel to this non-conventional thriller.

Night Moves is a film too ponderous for the mass market of movie lovers yet it has a humble and effective feel to it that allows those that go along with it to be invested and on edge with what is taking place. With a cast of solid leads and with a lovely visual feel, Night Moves has a groove all to its own and while never reaching grand heights, it's certainly a sight bit better than many of its more explosive yet idiotic thriller counterparts and a breath of fresh air for those that like their movies tinged with a slower pacing.

3 1/2 bags of fertilizer out of 5

I went to the theater, a bit afraid I'd be on the receiving end of Enviro-Preaching. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find something different. This was actually a suspenseful thriller about paranoia taking hold after the commission of a major crime.

The environmental aspect was just a means to move the story along. Although the story involves eco-sabotage, the basic premise of the fallout from paranoia could have fit in a story about something similar like a robbery gone wrong, etc.

I was tickled to see the counter-culture hippie family eating bacon, and the self-righteous radical enviro-warriors owning gas-guzzling full-size pickup trucks. One of the guys, for all his professed love of the earth, treated his property like a pig sty. I don't think these and other little treats were accidents.

On the negative side, the movie was a bit on the slow side. Not horribly slow, but just a little on the plodding side. I think there were a few too many shots of the main character staring into space, having deep thoughts. Maybe it was constipation, I don't know. And the ending? Definitely could have been reworked, as it was rather disappointing.

In spite of these moderate flaws, I enjoyed this movie very much. It's well worth checking out.

"You said no one would get hurt!" -Dena

I was not particularly excited going in to see this one but I was certainly interested, Night Moves is another of those movies that premiered a year ago at the Toronto Film Festival that are only now getting released in my country though this one has also taken a while to get it's release in the U.S. It was a year ago then that two films premiered at "TIFF" that stared Jesse Eisenberg, one of them was The Double and the other one was this one, both received good reviews, The Double continued to get it's share of talk while this one kind of was forgotten, still though I remembered the good early buzz that had continued throughout it's promotion so I still went ahead and saw it.

Night Moves is Directed by Kelly Reichardt and it stars Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg, Alia Shawkat, Peter Sarsgaard, Katherine Waterston, James LeGros and Griffin Newman. " Three radical environmentalists coming together to execute the most intense protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam-the very source and symbol of the energy-sucking, resource-devouring industrial culture they despise."

Night Moves is not a picture that I loved, I didn't it's no doubt flawed and I can see many getting way of this one but I got to say that this is a good little film that's being underseen. I am not familiar with director of the movie, I had heard about some of her pictures but she seems to be someone who divides audiences and I guess this is another picture that will divide audiences. It will not break audiences because it's weird or too complicated but because it's too simple and many will probably find it uninteresting and boring.

Though the movie certainly has a slow pace I would disagree with those who say it is boring though I got to say that I would understand those people too because I feel there's a lack of character development. I'm not saying they should have gone with some cheap clichéd sh*t and put up a background on the characters but they could have made a bit more effort. We are never truly able to understand these guys, their motivations seem awfully weak, they are basically people who want to protect the environment and all that jazz but the fact is that the movie's tone is much bleaker, these characters are completely alienated, especially Jesse's and we never get the sense of why. They basically are acting like terrorists doing some "Mickey Mouse" job that doesn't really have a great deal of importance in the big scheme of things but they take it like they are revolutionizing the world and I think that made it kind of confusing for the audience.

It was also confusing what happens afterwards, I mean was it really that surprising that someone got injured or killed, I mean that blew up a f*cking dam like tough guys but then they couldn't handle the consequences of their job that was ultimately successful. I mean this collapsing of the characters in the afterwards of the job is certainly an interesting character study on guilt, on fear and on redemption and I think it's handled quite beautifully but I still I couldn't help but to feel confused. It's kind of a paradox because that made me feel confused but it also helped me relate with the characters because they are no big timers they are just normal people, with good intentions and a heart and it's very interesting to their reacting to the consequences or their actions, their reactions aren'