NIGHT MOVES (M) 3.5 stars
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Capitol Manuka
Director and co-writer Kelly Reichardt's film has a lot going for it - a fine cast, an interesting idea, atmosphere, and a thoughtful examination of issues and characters. While here are flaws that prevent it receiving an unreserved recommendation, it's still worth seeing.
Three radical environmentalists - Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning) and Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) - have a plan to make a grand statement by blowing up a dam. Naturally, this isn't easy - a lot of planning and preparation and risk taking are involved - but the ex-military knowledge of the older Harmon comes in handy. The trio must overcome the challenges in the undertaking and their own personality differences to carry out their self-appointed mission. But actions have consequences, and not all of them can be foreseen.
One of the major problems with the film is the pacing. It's extremely slow-moving and understated, especially in the first half, and while there's nothing wrong with a slow build-up to allow a gradual increase in tension and exploration of character, too often the dramatic flow tends to ebb and the characters become a little too opaque. Just why they are so determined to carry out their plan even when they hear other environmentalists decry such action is unclear. The characters and their relationships seem underwritten, though having to infer a bit can have its rewards.
Eisenberg (The Social Network) and Saarsgard (An Education) are pretty much cast according to type - the former a quiet, socially awkward nerd who lives on a farming commune, the latter almost oozing sleaziness - and Fanning is vulnerable in an adult role, moving away from the child-star roles that made her famous. They help maintain interest even when the film's momentum falters.
But if you're patient, there are rewards here, in following the preparation and execution of a plan and the messy aftermath. Night Moves shares its title with a post-Watergate 1975 private-investigator movie of the same name and the boat the three activists buy to help carry out their plan - as well as, presumably, referring to the shadiness of much of what happens in the film. It's a rather bleak story about people who seemingly have good intentions but don't realise these can, if not thought through, pave the road to a kind of paranoid hell. The despair of the understated ending lingers in the mind.