Arrow Frightfest 2022 – Film Review -Night Sky (2022)

A confidently laid-back Sci-Fi road flick that conjures woozy nostalgia and subverts genre preconceptions.

Self-destructive trouble magnet Oran is bleeding out when he encounters the charmingly weird Annie who mysteriously heals his serious wounds. In return, she requests he drives her to a vague location in New Mexico. However, another interested party has nefarious designs on both their destinies.

The talented Jacob Gentry‘s new film sneaks up on you with its sublime performances, stunning camera work, and dulcet script. Before you know it you are gently dragged into its exposition light orbit and rooting for the two travellers. Executed with a quiet assurance it’s a movie that asks a lot from the viewer but repays in kind with an experience that is both ergonomically paced and warmingly witty.

In what is essentially a mobile chamber drama, a lot rests upon the characterisations and chemistry of Oran and Annie. Thanks to finely tuned acting and agile writing it is a pleasure to become road companions and watch their doomed relationship develop.

AJ Bowen, who also co-wrote Night Sky, never gives anything less than full throttle commitment to a role but this is as good as I have seen him. He gives Oran a tangible air of cynical self-preservation juxtaposed with a healthy slug of redemption craving that encourages a roguish empathy. Bowen inhabits the skin of the shamed sibling that turns up on the doorstep only when they need help as effortlessly as he does that of the honourable cad who would take a bullet to preserve what remains of his fragile dignity.

Brea Grant shows equally impressive range as the enigmatic Annie imbuing her with a disarming naivety that belies her true configuration. Occupying the restrained middle ground between distantly related depictions from Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie she uses intonation and emotion as placeholders for explicit backstory.

Midway through Night Sky, there is a motel room scene that descends into a booze-laced confessional. It’s a gorgeous gelling of acting and screenplay that unearths the holy genre grail of being both genuinely hilarious and cathartically moving. Not only does it add texture and grounding but it provides the perfect segway to the tense second half.

Also showcasing dramatic scope is the cinematography by Jacob Gentry himself. Whether lingering on close-ups of his cast or unleashing the awesome vistas of The Grand Canyon his camera is seldom impotent. The visuals become gradually more epic as the movie builds to an impactfully cinematic climax that only serves to highlight the beauty of the subtlety that precedes it.

Thematically the film is near impossible to discuss and steer clear of spoiler territory. Suffice it to say, our singular insignificance in the scheme of the wider universe comes under the microscope as does the influence of one individual during a specific transitory phase of our fleeting lives.

Refreshingly linear and certified free from superfluous chin-stroking Night Sky is an entertaining Sci-Fi thriller that takes time to breathe in the escapist legacy of its harbingers without becoming a sterile slave to them.