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AMERICAN NIGHT
Director: Alessio Della Valle Cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emile Hirsch, Paz Vega, Jeremy Piven, Fortunato Cerlino, Alba Amira Ramadani, Annabelle Belmondo, Michael Madsen, Mara Lane Rhys Meyers, Lee Levi, Marco Leonardi, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Anastacia MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:03 Release Date: 10/1/21 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 30, 2021 A bunch of shallow, vacant characters occupy the plot of writer/director Alessio Della Valle's American Night. They're mostly defined by their respective occupations, such as the mobster, the stunt man, the courier, the art restorer, and the rock star of an art critic (It's always amusing how often creators give critics more power and fame than even critics believe they do or should have). Each of these people has some kind of quirk, of course, and that's the end of any potential interest we might have in them. Plot dominates this rough, back-and-forth narrative, which has to do with an Andy Warhol painting of Marilyn Monroe. Aspiring artist/nascent mob boss Michael (Emile Hirsch) wants the painting. Stunt man Vincent (Jeremy Piven) accidentally receives it, and critic/gallery owner John (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Vincent's stepbrother, seems to have no part of it. The painting ends up with Vincent on account of a narcoleptic courier named Shaky (Fortunato Cerlino), who hides it in the stunt guy's gym bag—for reasons that make little sense in the moment or in retrospect, except that it gets the plot in motion—while hiding from some people trying to steal it. Valle's screenplay keeps returning to earlier events in this story, offering only minimal details to further explain who else is involved, how certain scenes (such as a funeral) actually happened, and John's currently on-the-rocks romance with art restorer Sarah (Paz Vega). In theory, the idea is to trace the painting back to the person who set it on its path, but that revelation only occurs at the very end—well past the point that it could mean anything to the story, these characters, or some deeper point. There is nothing deeper here, though. Apart from the empty twists of the plot, Valle is mostly concerned with assorted superficial trappings—the broad characters, self-conscious dialogue (by which everyone more or less sounds alike), some moody scenery, occasional flashes of action and/or violence. Beyond the winding storyline, nothing really defines this movie, which indulges in a lot but focuses on little. American Night portrays plenty of corruption, in the underworlds of both art and crime, and chaos, especially in its action-heavy climax (It doesn't matter what needs to be resolved, as long as guns and throwing stars do all of the work), but it exists as a messy con on us. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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