Pledges itself to the declarations of it’s inspirations in a low-fi film that eases by with it’s dynamic duo and promises of something greater.
From Amazon Studios, comes the Andrew Patterson directed, The Vast of Night. Starring Sierra McCormick and Jake Horowitz in a throwback science-fiction film that channels the tube TV thrills that haunted audiences for years with it’s crushing paranoia. Many of these Twilight Zone-esque episodes focus on the fears of advanced technology, harkening back to Orson Welles’ 1938 narration of H.G. Welles’ classic novel, The War of the Worlds.
In The Vast of Night, Fay (McCormick) and Everett (Jake) are radio and technology junkies. They share an adoration for audio recording and gathering information and relaying it via radio. Early on the camera follows them from a distance that feels just out of earshot. Their voices evaporate into the night sky hovering over their small town, and their journey into the unknown is just a phone call away. It’s clear during this time that Patterson is very much a debut film-maker. The initial presentation of the tube TV with a fuzzy image is an unsubtle homage to his abundantly clear inspirations. It’s good for a one-time deal, but he makes a rookie mistake of repeating the same technique multiple times. Which is ultimately the film’s biggest weakness.
It’s reminiscent of J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi film Super 8. A good movie, admittedly, but one that is so caught up in being an homage to his inspirations, Steven Spielberg, that any sense of distinct identity is lost in the process. You see that same effect here. It feels relatively safe and unchallenging in it’s approach to stray from that identity. It doesn’t take any time to elevate or evolve the material into being anything more than something we already love with a 2020 polish. Which is where many films, blockbusters included, are trending.
This isn’t to say The Vast of Night is without merit, it has its strengths amidst some head scratching, rookie mistakes. The cinematography is very impressive. It’s not flashy, or without perspective. It lurks in the distance, but inches closer as Fay and Everett discover new information. There’s a distinct storytelling mechanic that relies heavily on ancillary characters telling the story and filling in the world through dialogue. In many ways this is a frustrating crutch for a story with such ambition as it breaks a fundamental storytelling technique of, “telling, and not showing.” Although it doesn’t use the camera as much as it should, the dialogue is engaging enough and it compliments the camerawork in all of it’s limited movements. Excluding a few terrific long shots and some quiet moments of distant gazing towards the unknown.
The Vast of Night is a good enough movie to salivate your taste buds for an appetite that is in dire need of fulfilling. It’s techniques are simultaneously engaging and confusing, but it’s performances make it enjoyable and intriguing. There’s clear potential from Andrew Patterson, and a bigger budget could assist in using the camera more to fill in it’s world instead of relying on dialogue from characters there is no real attachment to. It’s a window into the past that utilizes many of 2020’s advancements, but it restrains itself to only adhering to the identity of something that was already obvious from it’s visual style and setting. Not a film I’d recommend you avoid, but neither one you should be eager to stream because there are many more options available out there within the same genre.