The Vast of Night

I have a great weakness for small, low-key indie films based on a unique approach to a genre concept or a distinctive formal adaptation. This category often brings forth both enthusiasm and disappointment when the obvious creativity and ingenuity of the filmmakers is combined with obvious production limitations or, in the worst case, unfinished screenplays. But there is even greater euphoria when, every once in a while, a thoroughly polished work such as The Vast of Night emerges. This debut ode to fantastical stories such those as found in the Twilight Zone as well as to the golden era of futurism is not bogged down in retro, but uses its period setting to uniquely link the concept of radio plays with the expressive drama of modern film. Just as in the referential works of the aforementioned iconic series, here it is also necessary for the viewer to accept a certain degree of fantasy, naïveté and pathos, as well as patience. The reward then becomes a gradually intensification of the atmosphere and a splendidly escalating narrative and absorbing formal grasp of the individual sequences, which can be impressive both as evidence that it is still possible to breathe new life into genre stories that have already been told numerous times and as the filmmaker’s presentation of new talents. Fortunately, the ambition to work with various means of expression is completely subordinate in the context of the work as a whole. Instead of being a spectacular exhibition, the film thus shows thoughtful and decisive mastery of all means of expression in media. The predominant long camera approaches (including one lasting nine minutes), dramatic rides and the various ways of handling dialogue passages by editing, zoom and rapid montages work superbly with particular scenes and with the overall dramaturgy of the picture while, furthermore, preserving the dimension of specific scenes and the overall dramaturgy of the film and maintaining the dimension of a radio play. (30.12.2020)