Night Moves

Night Moves, the fifth feature film from the brilliant minimalist filmmaker Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff), is her most mainstream picture to date. However, it will still probably slide under the radar of 95 percent of moviegoers, and possibly alienate those who do come to it not knowing what to expect from a movie by this director. Reichardt makes small, unassuming pictures that unfold in a natural and uncontrived way, yet while watching them I’m always acutely aware that I’m watching an invented fiction, even in the case of her last film, Meek's Cutoff, which was inspired by a historical event. The awareness of a guiding hand behind these authentic-seeming stories is not a flaw in these pictures any more than the recognition of craft or appreciation of discriminating word selection that we feel when reading poetry. Indeed Reichardt’s films could best be described as poetic pictures. They objectively observe human behavior but with an unmistakable point of view. In all her films to date, this signature vantage point instils an unsettling apprehension in the viewer that things are not going to turn out well for the people we’re watching on screen.

By Reichardt’s standards, Night Moves is an action thriller, though there are no car chases or explosions (none on-screen anyway). The film tells the story of three radical environmentalists who try to pull off the most intense protest of their lives, despite the fact that their plan is not all that well thought out. Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard play these nondescript, idealistic young people. This A-list casting is unusual for Reichardt and, though all three stars are well suited to their roles, they are each actors with pronounced styles and mannerisms, which makes it slightly challenging to fully accept them as their characters. Unlike Michele Williams, who seems to be able to disappear completely into the characters she’s played in the two pictures she’s made with Reichardt, the casting of these three movie stars distracts a bit from the commonplace tone of the film.

However, the picture succeeds completely in creating a mood of suspense and foreboding. Scene by scene we become aware of the action the three activists prepare to undertake, and we’re aware of their plan’s potential for unforeseen problems, bad outcomes, and futility. As in all this director’s work, the pleasure in watching Night Moves comes from having to piece together the unspoken, unseen plot points. By the time we arrive at the last third of the story, we know these characters well, almost as if we’ve become willing, but judgmental accomplices to their unlawful acts. Night Moves subverts the typical structure of a crime and punishment film by focusing on the emotional consequences of political extremism rather than the mechanics of the characters’ exploits or the validity of their ideology.