Sisterhood and compassion save the day in Jordana Spiro’s tender, intimate “Night Comes On,” her Sundance NEXT Innovator Prize-winning directorial debut. The material is primal: teen Angel (Dominique Fishback), newly released from prison, feels the urge to kill her father for murdering her mother. Working in an intense, densely suggestive visual style, often staying close to Fishback’s face, allows for the communication of a high order from the most incommunicative of girls. Coursing through the aftereffects of juvenile detention, family trauma and even the possibility of murder, Spiro paces her story and its emotions with great control and deliberation. There’s not a wasted breath, a less-than-freighted glance. With Tatum Marilyn Hall, John Earl Jelks, Max Casella. 87m. (Ray Pride)
“Night Comes On” opens Friday, August 10 at Facets.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
