Night Catches Us

I just recently watched this movie and thought to myself. This movie is phenomenal especially with Kerry Washington. A must see with a outstanding cast and incredible storyline.

"Night Catches Us" is a movie written and directed by Tanya Hamilton. It seeks to tell the story of a Philadelphia neighborhood and how it was shattered by the police killing of a Black Panther Party member. The movie takes place in 1976 where we see Marcus Washington (Anthony Mackie) returning home to a cold welcome for his father's funeral. There are those who are angry with him for running away, and those who are angry with him for being a snitch. Nothing is really clear to begin with though it becomes a little clearer later on. He's at odds with Dwayne Miller (Jamie Hector) over "snitching," and he's at odds with his brother Bostic (Tariq Trotter) and his secret flame Patricia (Kerry Washington) over disappearing. By the end we find out why he was labeled a snitch and why he disappeared.

This movie suffered from a weak script and an uncompelling plot. It's not a good thing when the best parts of your movie are archive footage and photos. It looked as if Tanya Hamilton was attempting to pay a tribute to the Black Panther Party, but she did the complete opposite. What we saw from ex-members and current wannabes was an organization that left people broken and confused. It was like all ex-members and allies were directionless without the Party, kind of like this movie. As if the legacy of the Party was poor, angry Black folks who were destined to remain poor and angry.

The movie attempted to be deep and poignant with the partial conversations and emotional pleas, but it never got past the surface of what the Party meant and what they were about. "Night Catches Us" may have been about a prodigal son returning, but he and all of the other characters were so hollow. There was nothing to them except that they were Black, had a connection to the Party, and had a death hanging over them of one of their members years ago.

It's hard to say just what Hamilton intended with this movie. She got quality actors in Mackie, Washington, and Hector, but that only takes you so far. Given the subject matter this movie could've been, and should've been so much better.

Night Catches Us (2010) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a man who returns home to his neighborhood after his father passes away. He wants to help his family fix-up the house but quickly comes to the realization he isn't wanted around by his former friends or family. There is one single mother who appreciates who he was and who he is and together they try to overcome some of their inner demons. This movie is directed by Tanya Hamilton (The Chi) in her directorial debut and stars Kerry Washington (Scandal), Anthony Mackie (Avengers), Ron Simons (27 Dresses) and Tariq Trotter (Yelling to the Sky). The storyline for this picture is very interesting and fun to watch unfold. There's numerous mysteries of each other's pasts for the two main characters that keep the audience intrigued. The acting is very good as is the cinematography, settings and backdrops. The character interactions also have the appropriate level of intensity. Overall, this is far from one of the best movies in this genre but is still worth a viewing. I'd score this a 6.5-7/10.

The late Sixties found people in life quandaries they could not have imagined based on how they were raised. As the US government continued to kill thousands in other countries they turned also upon their citizens and sought to dampen dissent through the murder of those on what they defined to be the fringes of society. The Black Panthers, Students for A Democratic Society, the Weather Underground, students at Jackson State, Kent State; members found political commitments tied to life and death decisions. How far does one go to dissent? To what does one commit oneself with all their heart and soul? What price is one willing to pay when the corruption and moral bankruptcy of one's nation is no longer tolerable. "Night Catches Us"illuminates the maze of personal and political commitments necessary for living through those times. People no longer put their lives on the line in quite the same way. The US continues to murder thousands across the globe but the protest is only seen on cable television. Gil Scott Heron could not have realized that in the end the revolution would be televised. It just wouldn't have any real impact or foment real change.

"Night Catches Us" is the best art-house film I've seen in several months. In fact it bests a lot of the current main-screen fare. It deserves better than the quiet and uneven release it seems destined for.

I saw it back-to-back with the Oscar contender "The King's Speech". It balanced the double bill reasonably well. Although "The King's Speech" is of course superior, the comparison wasn't simply ridiculous.

I saw it twice ...which I often do with films I really like, as I tend to miss too many things the first time.

It's not moralistic. Both sides of survival vs. justice, violence vs. pacifism, united front vs. paranoia, victims vs. victimizers, and this generation vs. the next generation are portrayed sympathetically. Although at first glance one particular style of being seems to be being touted over the others, just a little reflection reveals that the film actually revels in moral ambiguity. Some characters manage to stay on the good side of the respectability line at all times, even while their inner demons are picked up and expressed -sometimes in socially unacceptable ways- by others around them. The camera notices more latent contradictions than the story ever delves into. For example the reverend was apparently beloved by the neighborhood, yet also lived in by far the finest house in the whole area.

The film isn't a polemic and doesn't seem to consciously attempt to portray cops in a bad light. Yet it doesn't shy away from sketches of substantial police bad attitude and violence.

"Night Catches Us" makes liberal use of art-house stylistic conventions. For example the confused, tangled, and partially submerged thoughts of a character are portrayed not by talking about them or even by seeing them in action, but by long leisurely shots from underneath of the crossed branches of overgrown vegetation. For another example, a character's longing for stability and tranquility is portrayed by lengthy shots of the proverbial babbling brook.

I wasn't irritated by the pacing. The film is by no means an action flick or a taut thriller, but I didn't find it like watching paint dry either. I tend to like slower paced films anyway (which of course doesn't mean everybody else will too:-). The most similarly paced movie that comes to mind is Clint Eastood's recent "Hereafter"; if you thought that was impossibly slow you'll probably have the same reaction to "Night Catches Us", but if that character exposition and portrayal of small events grabbed you this likely will too.

All the action takes place over just a few days in 1976. A block of important events that happened about a decade earlier is described mainly through bits of dialog. There are no visual flashbacks nor dream sequences (except of course for the occasional interspersed archival Black Panthers footage).

I found the acting quite good. It doesn't bowl you over as the greatest thing you've seen in years; but it's by no means "just workmanlike". Quite often meaning is communicated not by dialog but by subtle body language or facial expressions, which the actors seem fully up to. Both the individual characters and the chemistry between the characters are believably convincing.

I found the situation (or plot if you prefer to think of it that way) simple and complex at the same time. It's simple in that once you finally grasp it you can describe the whole thing in one short paragraph, and in that if you're one of those people who instantly "get" most movie clues you might be able to divine the whole thing well in advance. On the other hand it's complex in that it's revealed only one tiny bit at a time -sometimes in dialog and sometimes visually- so the whole movie can become a "mystery" to be solved if that's your preference.