Review of Night Moves (2014) by Walter M — 01 Jul 2014

In her own low key way, Kelly Reichardt continues to move away from character driven movies to more plot driven ones with her latest film "Night Moves." While not entirely successful, she does make a couple of good points about the trouble that saboteurs and terrorists have in trying to get their points across to the general public with their violent acts. On a much more personal level than the plot to bomb a dam in Oregon, there is the trouble that Josh(Jesse Eisenberg) has in communicating his feelings toward Dena(Dakota Fanning), his fellow conspirator, along with Harmon(Peter Sarsgaard), an unreliable veteran, known. In any case, Eisenberg has no trouble conveying his character's emotions without that much dialogue.

But that same low key approach can also work against the movie which does not so much end, as just sort of runs out of gas eventually. Another example would be a key scene that while at first might seem disposable is actually a flashback to the first time Josh meets Dena. It is at a screening of an environmental film. During the Q & A, Dena asks the filmmaker what she can do. It is Josh, scowling in the corner before this, who does have an answer for her.