Picture: Netflix
Based on the 2021 novel by author/musician Willy Vlautin (The Motel Life, Lean on Pete), Night Always Comes is the latest Vanessa Kirby vehicle for Netflix following her breakout role as Princess Margaret on the Emmy Award-winning smash The Crown & her first Oscar-nominated role as young mother Martha in Pieces of a Woman.
Now a cemented A-list star featured prominently in such franchises as Mission: Impossible, Fast and the Furious, & most recently Marvel’s The Fantastic Four, Kirby returns to the streamer as lead actress & producer on the film and reunites with director Benjamin Caron, whom she worked with extensively during her time on The Crown. Caron directed 11 episodes of the show during its run, working with Kirby on several of them.
With Night Always Comes, the pair find themselves on much different footing, going from a sweeping historical costume drama set in legendary British palaces to a gritty, crime-filled family drama set in the American Pacific Northwest.
Adapted for the screen by Mother’s Instincts scribe Sarah Conradt, the story focuses on Lynette, a beaten-down woman juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet for her older brother Kenny (The Peanut Butter Falcon’s Zack Gottsagen) & her mother Doreen (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Barely scraping by, she sacrifices any basic necessities to save up enough money to buy the ramshackle home her family has been renting for decades. When her plans for the home ultimately get derailed, Lynette sets out on a dangerous odyssey, confronting dangerous people from her sordid past in order to secure the future her family desperately needs.
Supporting Kirby, Leigh, & Gottsagen are several notable actors: Stephan James (Homecoming) as Cody, Randall Park (Always Be My Maybe) as Scott, Julia Fox (Uncut Gems) as Gloria, Jake McDorman (Mrs. Davis) as Jack, Eli Roth (Inglorious Basterds) as Blake, & Michael Kelly (House of Cards) as Tommy.
While the cast is loaded with talent & the creators are well regarded, it’s hard to feel anything but awful during its runtime. Night Always Comes focuses on desperation in desperate social & economic times, featuring a woman who never had a chance before she is cast out into the evils of her surroundings. It’s generational trauma at an economic-based apex for 100 minutes with mostly bad decisions from damaged people; a story that has no resolutions, no consequences, & no redeemable characters of note.
Picture: Netflix
For moments, Night Always Comes can be intense with a run-all-night plot structure that can make you engaged as to what crazy moment is around the corner. Vanessa Kirby has always been able to dial it up with her icy blue-eyed stares or her vein-popping fire oozing out of every pore. While Kirby is once again doing impressive work, it’s all wasted with lackluster dialogue and a plot that seems predicated on her Herculean efforts to save their home until its finale steals that away with a whimper.
Much like the central focus of the film, there is nothing that Kirby and her fellow accomplished cast could do to save this one from being just another August dump job. It pains me to see such tragic things on screen & real life themes that could have been explored more thoroughly just end up as a footnote to the Netflix movie slate. Ironic that a director more known for incredible TV work is at the helm for a film that could have been better served as a mini-series to give more backstory, context, & character building than we get here.
Watch Night Always Comes If You Like
- Emily the Criminal
- Good Time
- Collateral
- Sharper
- Pieces of a Woman
MVP of Night Always Comes
Vanessa Kirby as Lynnette
Kirby can do it all. Oscar, Golden Globe, & Emmy nominee. Icy villain. World saving hero. Lead. Supporting. Whatever it is, it’s always smart to have Vanessa Kirby front and center.
Even in a movie that struggles to find relevance like this one, Kirby can still give it moments of passion, earnestness, & despair that feel more earned than they actually are.
A lot of trauma, noise, & bluster don’t add up to much for this punchless parade of sadness. Kirby deserves better, but, as a producer on the film, she knew what script she had (or didn’t have in this case).