A Night to remember
The Vast of Night (89 mins) Directed by Andrew Patterson Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★ 1⁄2
Fay Crocker (Sierra McCormick) only came to the game to show off her new Westinghouse Recording Device.
Instead, a series of events led to a night she and her hometown will never forget.
Not much usually happens in Cayuga, New Mexico. The 492-strong population are still talking about the time an owl was discovered in the attic of the school library and when a squirrel bit through an electrical wire.
Some say the same thing has happened again, as the gym’s scoring clock fails to fire up, but Everett (Jake Horowitz) isn’t so convinced.
As he finds the real source of the problem with his usually confident and slightly disdainful ease, the charismatic WOTW radio host is also taken by Fay’s enthusiasm for her electronic equipment. Strolling back across town as she prepares to start her shift as a switchboard operator, he offers her advice on the rules and etiquette of interviewing, while she regales him with fantastical tales of futuristic electric roads, vacuum tube transportation, and personal communication devices that she’s read about in ‘‘science magazines’’.
‘‘Tiny TV telephones? That’s cuckoo,’’ he laughs.
But that’s not half as strange as what’s about to unfold. Calls start cutting off, while others are plagued by a strange noise in the background. A perplexed Fay rings Everett at the radio station, and he, in turn, puts out a plea to his listeners for any assistance they can offer. It elicits an immediate and truly unexpected response.
Magnificently framed as an episode of a Twilight Zone-style anthology television series – Paradox Theatre (complete with black-and-white link scenes where ad breaks might have been) – The Vast of Night is a beautifully rendered homage to the sciencefiction movies and television of the 1950s.
Andrew Patterson’s directorial debut has a Wes Anderson-like feel to it, a world full of quirky characters spouting memorable dialogue, brought vividly to life via unhurried pacing and a production design that offers a real sense of space and place. Patterson cleverly keeps his camera close to his protagonists, and fabulously realised tracking shots and long takes draw the audience into the lives of Everett and Fay, as we hang on their every word.
And that’s the movie’s other strength – its dynamic duo. Stage actor Horowitz is quite brilliant as the motor-mouthed, seemingly unflappable Everett (reminding one of Jason Schwartzman’s career-defining turn in Rushmore), and former Disney TV star McCormick (A.N.T. Farm) seems destined for big things after this luminous turn.
They both benefit from James Montague and Craig W Sanger’s taut but rich script, which even allows their characters moments to share their faults and their fears, to winning effect.
The Vast of Night is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.