"That Night" received mixed reviews from pro critics, and mostly positive reviews from real people - for generally the same reasons. What the reviewers see as pedestrian, cliche filled, and overly sentimental are exactly the things most people love in a movie. In our again and again 1440 minutes a day, most of us live mostly routine, pedestrian, cliched lives ("What's new?" "Nothing much. You?") - or it's that people don't like to face in their entertainment the same problems they live every day; sentimental is the impossible dream escape they wish for themselves. Both groups seem to draw their opinions from quick immediate reactions to one-time viewings. I've found it sometimes takes a second or third viewing to see some of the more complex aspects of a movie. With that in mind, I revisited "That Night" last night (Sorry about that).
SPOILERS AHEAD "That Night" takes place in the early sixties. It's built on two separate story lines. One involves the character Sheryl O'Conner, played with her usual stunning intensity by Juliette Lewis. Sheryl is a seventeen year old, sophisticated, worldly wise, sexy, vamp - a Catholic girl who tests her cultural restrictions to the limit, having a propensity for dangerous guys. She pushes to the limits of the restrictions, but is mostly ruled by them. Her strong father is doting, permissive, and demonstrative in his love for her. Across the street lives eleven year old Alice Bloom, played by Eliza Dushku. Sheryl is everything Alice is not. Alice is naive, and the butt of her peers' pranks, which take advantage of her naivete. Her father is also a strong personality, but cold and rigid in his relationships with his wife and daughter, and insensitive almost to the point of cruelty to Alice. Alice is on her own emotionally. As the story develops between Sheryl and her, it's ironically the naive Alice who has the stronger character - perhaps because of her having to make it on her own emotionally. She is the one who can work through problems (not always wisely, but with consistent fortitude); she is the one who's willing to "take the bull by the horns," so to speak; and she is the one with the courage of her convictions. Sheryl, perhaps by reason of her loving and permissive upbringing, is the one who folds under pressure.
MORE SPOILERS But Alice only sees Sheryl as her ideal, as being everything she wants to be. She spies on Sheryl; she imitates Sheryl's choices in music and perfume. She all but stalks the older girl. The two are brought together when Sheryl finds Alice sick and hurt from the cruel treatment she received at the hands of her friends. In turn, Alice helps Sheryl in planning the trysts with her roustabout boyfriend, and joins her in those trysts as part of the plots she designed. A warm bond grows out of the relationship between Alice, Sheryl, and Sheryl's boyfriend Rick (C. Thomas Howell).
AND MORE SPOILERS Sheryl becomes pregnant, and is exiled to an unwed mothers maternity home (the typical practice of the day). Harsh confrontations arise between Alice and her father, and she defiantly runs away, setting herself to the task of bringing Rick and Cheryl back together as she KNOWS they should be.
SMALL SPOILER Sure, the story is corny, pedestrian, and cliched. And the images are nothing special (the under-the-boardwalk gaudiness here doesn't come close to the softer under-the-boardwalk sequence in "Heaven Help Us." Except for the one scene where Rick dances with Alice on the beach; that's a memorable one. But viewed from the perspective of it's complex evolving human relationships, this is a memorable movie.
SPOILERS AHEAD "That Night" takes place in the early sixties. It's built on two separate story lines. One involves the character Sheryl O'Conner, played with her usual stunning intensity by Juliette Lewis. Sheryl is a seventeen year old, sophisticated, worldly wise, sexy, vamp - a Catholic girl who tests her cultural restrictions to the limit, having a propensity for dangerous guys. She pushes to the limits of the restrictions, but is mostly ruled by them. Her strong father is doting, permissive, and demonstrative in his love for her. Across the street lives eleven year old Alice Bloom, played by Eliza Dushku. Sheryl is everything Alice is not. Alice is naive, and the butt of her peers' pranks, which take advantage of her naivete. Her father is also a strong personality, but cold and rigid in his relationships with his wife and daughter, and insensitive almost to the point of cruelty to Alice. Alice is on her own emotionally. As the story develops between Sheryl and her, it's ironically the naive Alice who has the stronger character - perhaps because of her having to make it on her own emotionally. She is the one who can work through problems (not always wisely, but with consistent fortitude); she is the one who's willing to "take the bull by the horns," so to speak; and she is the one with the courage of her convictions. Sheryl, perhaps by reason of her loving and permissive upbringing, is the one who folds under pressure.
MORE SPOILERS But Alice only sees Sheryl as her ideal, as being everything she wants to be. She spies on Sheryl; she imitates Sheryl's choices in music and perfume. She all but stalks the older girl. The two are brought together when Sheryl finds Alice sick and hurt from the cruel treatment she received at the hands of her friends. In turn, Alice helps Sheryl in planning the trysts with her roustabout boyfriend, and joins her in those trysts as part of the plots she designed. A warm bond grows out of the relationship between Alice, Sheryl, and Sheryl's boyfriend Rick (C. Thomas Howell).
AND MORE SPOILERS Sheryl becomes pregnant, and is exiled to an unwed mothers maternity home (the typical practice of the day). Harsh confrontations arise between Alice and her father, and she defiantly runs away, setting herself to the task of bringing Rick and Cheryl back together as she KNOWS they should be.
SMALL SPOILER Sure, the story is corny, pedestrian, and cliched. And the images are nothing special (the under-the-boardwalk gaudiness here doesn't come close to the softer under-the-boardwalk sequence in "Heaven Help Us." Except for the one scene where Rick dances with Alice on the beach; that's a memorable one. But viewed from the perspective of it's complex evolving human relationships, this is a memorable movie.