The Vast of Night is a science fiction film directed by filmmaker Andrew Patterson. The film stars young actresses, Jake Horowitz and Sierra McCormick. The film was released late last month through streaming media and is also unique in drive-in theatre in the US. The film also won an award at the prestigious independent festival, Slamdance Film Festival last year. How good is this movie? Really beyond expectations!
The story of the film focuses only on two figures, namely Fay (McCormick) and Everett (Horowitz) set in a small town, Cayuga in New Mexico, US, in the 1950s. Fay is a telephone operator in the city and Everett is a radio broadcaster WOTW, the only radio station there. That night was special in Cayuga because all the townspeople came to the basketball game at the city stadium. In this suddenly quiet city, Fay who was working that night suddenly got a strange signal on the phone. Fay continued this to Everett who then broadcasted it to the radio. An elderly viewer responded and said he had heard something similar in his youth when a foreign object crossed his territory. Fay and Everett try to uncover this mystery, while all the citizens still enjoy basketball games.
Wow! This film is one of the best things for me as a connoisseur of science fiction in the past two decades. Watching The Vast of Night is like watching science fiction films of the 70s, and there is also a touch of Spielberg and Lucas there. Interestingly, if anyone has ever known the Twilight Zone mystery series, this film is packed as if it were one episode in this series. For me, this film is an extraordinary achievement, primarily worked on by film debutants. The filmmaker not only carries elements of nostalgia but is also very skilled scripts (especially dialogues) and organizing them into a classy, intense thriller. From beginning to end, there was not a single moment that was miss, as if it was a long breath. Not feel we’ve passed 90 minutes the duration of the film.
Dialogue, acting, and camera. These three factors are the biggest strength of the film. Not a minute on this film did not use dialogue and fast too. The story runs “real-time”, since the first second, it rarely breaks until the film ends. Since the initial scene, which is reminiscent of George Lucas’s American Graffiti, the camera moves dynamically following our two main characters who walk around the stadium, the stadium parking lot, and the small city of Cayuga. These two figures have solid chemistry with their dialogues coming out, like a ping-pong game. Some shots often use long take effectively in certain moments. One “long take” is impressive when the camera moves from where Fay crosses the city and stadium to the WOTW radio where Everett works which is served through one shot without interruption.
Horowitz and McCormick. Their appearance, it feels, is one of the best chemistry in films of the last few decades. These two young stars are so natural in launching dialogue, like classic Hollywood era films. The extraordinary script indeed made everything so easy for them. Intelligently, the conversation can suddenly change another subject in the middle of a precarious situation. I just laughed applauding, when Fay said, “why do you always change the tone of the voice to be different when you record your voice?”. This intermittent dialogue with intelligent humour is rare in modern films. Honestly, if this film only contained Fay and Everett’s dialogues running from the stadium to the city, I would enjoy it, more than ever.
The Vast of Night with its simple story and adequate nostalgic packaging, tempo and endless dialogue, and the impressive appearance of its two young stars, with the spirit of 70s sci-fi films, is easily said to be one of the best independent science fiction films ever produced. High praise for the director and I lift my hat high. It was very apparent that the makers and players enjoyed the production of the film, and this passion was seen in the movie. The film can be much better, but for the level of production, this is more than enough. As a connoisseur of films and fans of the science fiction genre, I can only say The Vast of Night is a masterpiece. This kind of movie makes me love this medium more than ever.
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