The world of cinema has the ability to at least attempt to capture a whole existence of the characters that are portrayed. In the best films, we see one (or more) characters fully realized. We see their hopes, dreams, passions, mistakes, successes and failures. Unfortunately, despite this possibility, the realization of this is featured in films few and far between. Some movies go too narrow and the characters become one-dimensional. Others do the opposite and try to grasp every possible level and relationship and fail to grasp any of them in a complete way. Sadly, Eat The Night does not thread this particular needle and falls into the latter category.
Eat The Night begins with a focus on Pablo (Théo Cholbi) and his sister, Apolline (Lila Gueneau), particularly leaning on their shared love for a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Darknoon. The game is obviously a stand-in for World of Warcraft, except that the characters receive a message stating that the game, and its servers, will be closing soon. This is much more of a blow to Apolline, as Pablo has his own troubles as a drug dealer (and producer) working on his own. And this is the first of a few missteps that the film makes on its way to bleakness and pain.

There is an interesting story to tell about the bond between siblings, unable to talk in a real way with one another, but connecting instead through a virtual world in adjoining rooms. And they explore that, shallowly. The moments within the game are interesting to watch, but ring hollow emotionally, especially so soon after the stunning documentary, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin. The scriptwriters (Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, and Guillaume Bréaud) instead choose to make the disconnection clear through the use of a queer romance.
After taking a beating from a rival gang, Pablo meets Night (Erwan Kepoa Falé) and they soon begin both a business relationship and a romantic one. It is here where the film, for a fleeting few moments, soars. Even without a dramatic amount of dialogue, this relationship is sweet, passionate, and genuine. We immediately understand what each partner sees in one another without bogging the film down with deep history or discussions of the future. Pablo and Night simply match, they belong to one another in both a romantic and primal way. Directors Poggi and Vinel, to their credit, never shy away from the passion, knowing that we have to care for both men for the film to have any impact at all.

Unfortunately, the film has a lot more boxes to check. One of those is the upset feelings of Apolline. Gueneau’s performance is quite good here, but she is simply asked to do too much. She is given the emotional load of the sibling relationship while Pablo is busy with romance. And then the film foolishly brings back their deadbeat father to create more trauma and drama. The predictable nature of this relationship and where it ends up leaves the audience with less emotion than the situation demands. What should be a gut punch instead becomes a simple nod of “I knew that was coming.” And we haven’t even dealt with the gangland war that is the narrative frame for the entire movie. Fistfights, planting evidence, a sick relative, and security cameras all play a role in this thread and none of it is half as interesting as the burgeoning romance.
Eat The Night is both passionate and bleak. This is a combination that takes real mastery of both writing and direction. Sadly, the filmmakers are not quite up to the task, close as they may come. Instead, it feels like pieces of three to four different movies all jammed together in the editing room. The Night that Pablo knows seems to be a different version than the one walking around alone. The Apolline that engages with Night in friendship is drastically different from scene to scene. All of these complexities could work together in a different movie and have something deep to say about the nature of relationships and who we are in them. Unfortunately, Eat The Night never connects those divides and leaves you wanting something just a bit more real.
Eat The Night is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Altered Innocence.

Eat The Night is both passionate and bleak. This is a combination that takes real mastery of both writing and direction. Sadly, the filmmakers are not quite up to the task, close as they may come. Instead, it feels like pieces of three to four different movies all jammed together in the editing room.
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GVN Rating 6.5
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Dave is a lifelong film fan who really got his start in the independent film heyday of the 90’s. Since then, he has tried to branch out into arthouse, international, and avant garde film. Despite that, he still enjoys a good romcom or action movie. His goal is to always expand his horizons, through writing and watching new movies.