REVIEW: ‘Night Always Comes’ Lacks Purpose

Awash in late-night darkness and storefront lights, Netflix Original Night Always Comes has the mood of a character-driven thriller, but doesn’t have enough bite to really sell it. The film, directed by Benjamin Caron, takes place over one night and follows the desperate exploits of Lynette (Vanessa Kirby) as she tries to secure $25,000 to keep her family’s house.

Lynette runs into various obstacles while trying to obtain that money, including her own mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). The hard deadline of 9 a.m. gives the film plenty of momentum, but the narrow scope also boxes the main character in too much. The back half of the film tries to carve out some backstory for Lynette, an answer to her mother’s vague mentions of Lynette’s troubled past, but it’s still too broad an outline for a main character. As Lynette moves through the night, unfortunately, the $25,000 remains her defining trait.

Kirby doesn’t help specify her character, either. It’s a performance that has no root to it. Nothing significant grounds it, so therefore nothing significant changes over the 12ish hours we get to know Lynette. Kirby’s stoic face remains in place even in times of pure adrenaline or fear. Where depth is supposed to be, only choppy dialogue exists. Part of this is in the writing.

The tension between Vanessa Kirby and Jennifer Jason Leigh doesn’t start early enough to resonate.

The writing is so focused on moving from point A to point B that the characters’ lives are only given to the audience in awkward pieces of dialogue. In this case, there’s a little too much telling and not showing who these characters are. By the time the film is over, there’s supposed to be some catharsis for Lynette. However, it doesn’t feel like it’s well-earned. It makes Night Always Comes feel like it’s more concerned with its destination than doing the work to get there.

Lynette’s relationship with her mother is too frustratingly held back. There appears to be some juicy tension between them. But their best scene, at the end of the film, can’t land because there’s not enough of that tension at the start. In that scene, the emotional truth of who Lynette is and how her mother views her really comes to light.

Leigh and Kirby shine best in this one moment, where the exhaustion not just from the night but also from the rough life they’ve lived is palpable. It radiates off them. However, despite how much this one scene works, it feels too little too late in the film’s run time.

Night Always Comes has a lot of opinions on social issues but little to say about them.

At the start of the film, news stories about the increasing rate of homelessness play over Lynette’s eyeing various homeless settlements with wariness. A newscaster notes that the poor will hurt other poor people to survive. While this scenario plays out throughout the film, there’s really nothing else the film has to say on this matter.

Night Always Comes is too restrained in these aspects. Specificity would make a stronger case. In the end, it’s an observation of the poor that’s too broad, ultimately coming off as crass.

Where the film does work is in Lynette’s relationship with her older brother, Kenny (Zack Gottsagen), who has Down Syndrome. A lot of Lynette’s desperation stems from not wanting to end up living on the street and having her brother taken by social services.

The city lights of nighttime add some visual character to Night Always Comes.

Kenny joins Lynette during part of the night’s exploits, and it’s here where the film slows down enough to really get a feel for Lynette and Kenny, and the relationship they have with each other. It’s some of the film’s best moments. One moment in particular has them reaching for the other in the middle of a fight, an emotional visual element of what really matters to them: each other.

The nighttime is another aspect that works. The city lights against the dark sky give the film a noir feel. And “night always comes” is an inevitability that the film is better at evoking than anything else in its runtime. A cycle that Lynette needs to break, but which isn’t clear until the film’s over. 

Night Always Comes looks pretty and excels in one or two scenes. But unfortunately, it lacks in specificity of character and theme.

Night Always Comes is available on Netflix