Night Always Comes

It’s perhaps no coincidence that Julia Fox has a cameo in Night Always Comes, the new thriller on Netflix starring Vanessa Kirby. Modelled on the movies of the Safdie brothers, Night Always Comes stares more than just a structure with Uncut Gems, in which Fox played a memorable cameo. That ticking timebomb thriller followed a desperate New York jeweller weaponising his gambling addiction in a breakneck attempt to gather cash. It was a movie that a third-act basketball match into a life-and-death scenario. In Night Always Comes, Kirby plays a working class woman staring at sure-shot eviction if she isn’t able to come up with a $25,000 deposit in one night.

Similar in spirit to the Dardenne Brothers 2014 drama Two Days, One Night and, more recently, the far inferior Straw, front lined by Taraji P. Henson and directed by Tyler Perry, is Night Always Comes. This is a film with a grammatically questionable title, familiar characters and generic treatment but held together by a stirring and steely act by Vanessa Kirby. In the film, that is now streaming on Netflix, Kirby plays Lynette, a woman who has to fight against all odds to ensure that her family — comprising her mom Doreen (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and brother Kenny (Zack Gottsagen, in fine form), who has developmental disabilities — continue to have a roof over their heads.

The Crown and Fantastic Four: First Steps actress Vanessa Kirby delivers yet another terrific performance that is the cornerstone of this uneven thriller. Her character is pushed to several lengths as she moves mountains to protect her family. Based on Willy Vlautin’s 2021 novel The Night Always Comes, the Netflix film is set in moody Portland, Oregon, where the forecast is already grim. However, despite the strong performances by its excellent cast, director Benjamin Caron and screenwriter Sarah Conradt aren’t able to elevate the narrative to be believable. The crime thriller takes place over a ragged 24 hours in which it is established that Lynette (Kirby) is deeply in debt. She needs a down payment of $25,000 to sign a loan with her mother, Doreen (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to save their family home and her older brother, Kenny (Zack Gottsagen), who has Down’s syndrome. If the house is in his name, he won’t be sent away to a special facility. But of course, nothing goes her way. Her mother buys a new car instead and a desperate Lynette runs around Portland, calling in every favour she knows and meeting unsavory characters to gather the money.