It Comes at Night
It Comes at Night
#1It Comes at Night
Posted: 6/9/17 at 1:01pm
Anyone planning on seeing this?
"Krisha" was one of my favorite movies of 2016 and I've been looking forward to Trey Edward Shults's follow-up since it was first announced. Ultimately, I was incredibly disappointed. I'm all for ambiguity and unanswered questions, but "It Comes at Night" really pushes the limit of how little information an audience needs to feel compelled by a narrative.
As an exercise in tone and the palatability of absolute misery, I guess it's a success? But I walked away with the overwhelming feeling that more could have been mined out of such a dire premise. For a situation with such high stakes (post-apocalyptic world where food and water are scarce and a deadly virus is finding its way into even the most protected homes), everything felt so methodical and sterile. And the moments of real chaos don't actually arise from any cause-and-effect logic, but as random events and nightmare sequences, leaving the story to just kind of plod along from episode to episode. Then - shockingly, for a movie that sure does take its sweet time getting to the meat of things - the ending rises and falls before you even have a chance to work through the "why" of what's happening.
I'll continue to follow Shults's work because he has such a clear sense of atmosphere and humanity, but perhaps next time he can partner up with a more thrifty writer or editor.
#2It Comes at Night
Posted: 6/10/17 at 8:38pm
Great review. I think you nailed it. I liked it but ... yeah. Something's missing.
