![]() ![]() If nothing else is consistently enjoyable about this film, it is the performances by Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard that, on top of being conventional for the respective thespians, are underwritten, with hardly any extensive material, the limitations of which cannot keep these gifted talents from endearing, and selling a sense of motivation and passion for their characters with more effectiveness than the writers. What engagement value there is hardly ever is all the effective, but there are indeed some interesting moments in the telling of a rather uninteresting story, and they go anchored mostly by the performances. Every now and then, Kelly Reichardt manages to fulfill this potential, through a script that she co-wrote with frequent collaborator Jonathan Raymond which offers an interestingly meticulous, if tedious study on the process of committing eco-terrorism, and through direction that takes advantage both of Jeff Grace's extremely underused dark ambient score which proves to be lovely and complimentary to the atmosphere's subtle heights in tension, and of the aforementioned haunting visuals which prove to be just as engrossing. This film's subject matter does not make for all that interesting of a story, but themes regarding the lengths certain people will go to do right by the environment are intriguing in their nature, and that establishes plenty of potential for dramatic intrigue. There's something kind of flat about Christopher Blauvelt's cinematography, which doesn't carry much flash to compensate for the usual technical shortcomings in an independent film like this, and yet, the drabness of the technical shortcomings, combined with a bleak coloration, compliments the sense of grit that defines what effective aspects there are to this overly subtle drama, and aesthetically speaking, the cinematography really comes to life when Blauvelt's lensing falls over near-haunting visuals that stress a particular setting in a fashion which is sometimes all-out lyrical in its providing memorably beautiful imagery, some of which carries purpose and substance. Well, I would take this film's messages more seriously if the film was more exciting, which isn't to say that there aren't commendable aspects here. Oh yeah, because otherwise, a lawsuit regarding the similarities between some independent drama and an obscure novel that never actually got adapted could taken as seriously as the eco-terrorist portrayed in this film. ![]() ![]() Well, at least you can take this film's title more seriously than the title of the novel "The Monkey Wrench Gang", which in turn made the lawsuit that the would-be makers of an adaptation of that novel slapped the makers of this "rip-off" with hard to take seriously. workin' on our night moves, tryin' to make some front page drive-in news!" I bet y'all were on the edge of your seats, either waiting for or fearing that I would make that reference, so there you go, but don't get too excited, because this film is decidedly not as fun as that song, nor is it even nearly as upbeat as its subject matter. ![]() "Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy, out in the back seat of my '60 Chevy, workin' on mysteries without any clues. Up, it's yet more young movie stars commit acts of eco-terrorism, but no, this isn't really "The East 2", which is good, because this film at least owes me a title that makes me think about something actually entertaining. The cast and crew of Night Moves were shooting at the house on the day the police came to question Kaufman, and as they were taking him away, Arthur Penn turned to Gene Hackman and said, "Man, we're shooting the wrong movie".As if Jesse Eisenberg wasn't a big enough hipster icon of some sort, here's an obscure drama about extreme environmentalism starring him. Kaufman's subsequent actions became the basis for the 2003 film Grand Theft Parsons. The house belonging to James Woods' character Quentin was owned by Phil Kaufman, road manager for Gram Parsons at the time of Parsons's death. Night Moves's original title, Dark Tower, had to be changed so as to not confuse the film with the 1974 blockbuster hit The Towering Inferno. Dunaway had just split from one of the film's stars - Harris Yulin - after a two year relationship. The role of Ellen, played by Susan Clark, was originally offered to Faye Dunaway who turned it down to star in Chinatown. Griffith's nude scenes were filmed just before the film's release, seventeen months after the start of production. Night Moves was filmed in the fall of 1973, but for undisclosed reasons, was not released until 1975. ![]()
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