Sundance with Abe: Night Comes On

I’m thrilled to be attending and covering the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah for the fifth time. I’m seeing as many movies as I can each day and will post reviews of each as I can.

Night Comes On
Directed by Jordana Spiro
NEXT

There is an unfortunate cycle that exists for those who enter the prison system at a young age. Whether the crime was minor or major is insignificant, since the way of living in detention can severely impact the way that a person deals with the outside world upon release. Being on parole is designed to ensure a compliance with laws, but more often than not, it pushes people to a breaking point since the freedom they’ve just gained is still limited by so much, which delays their reentry into society and acclimation back to what life was like before.

Director Jordana Spiro discusses the film
Angel (Dominique Fishback) is released from prison at age eighteen after serving time for being caught with an illegal weapon. Her first move is to procure a gun, something she plans to use when she tracks down her father (John Earl Jelks), who has been acquitted of the murder of her mother. She finds her younger sister Abby (Tatum Marilyn Hall) living in foster care, eager for the chance to spend some time with her sister, even if it’s just to take her to where their father is currently staying.

Actress Dominique Fishback discusses the film
This film’s title makes it sound like a horror film, but that’s a complete misdirect. This is an honest, emotional drama about two young girls whose lives have taken a miserable turn, leaving them to fend for themselves while mourning their mother and hating their father for taking her from them. Abby is an extremely precocious ten-year-old, heard in her first scene mocking a fellow foster child for adding two plus two to twenty-two. She knows far more than she lets on as she accompanies Angel on a journey that Angel has no plans to return from after finding their father, and the experience is a mesmerizing one.

Actress Tatum Marilyn Hall discusses the film
Fishback, who has appeared in a few films and TV shows, delivers a sobering and lived-in performance as Angel, who doesn’t try to hide her attitude when speaking with authority figures like her parole officer and rarely allows herself to smile. Hall, who was adorable and hilarious at the press conference following the film, is an astonishing find, presenting someone who is mature yet obviously still a child. She easily steals the film, which is also the feature film debut for actress Jordana Spiro as a director. This is an extremely compelling and powerful start for what should hopefully be a fantastic career for all three women.

A-