Night Always Comes (2025)

An intense performance by Vanessa Kirby is probably the best reason to watch Benjamin Caron’s thriller drama Night Always Comes.

Based on the novel The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin, the movie tells the gripping story of Lynette (Kirby), who lives in Portland, Oregon and desperately tries to secure both a house and a future for her family. 

Lynette needs 25.000 for a down payment on the house she lives in together with her brother Kenny (Zack Gottsagen), who suffers from Down syndrome.

Her mother Doreen (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is also there, but she seems to have an agenda of her own as she suddenly squanders the money meant for the house.

This propels Lynette into action, in a way resembling other movies - both Deux Jours, One Nuit by the Brothers Dardenne and Good Time by The Safdie Brothers - as she begins an odyssey that leads her to multiple colorful characters from her past, some more sympathetic than others (and some more criminal than others).

Even though the movie as a whole feels rather uneven, Night Always Comes works both as a genre movie, with an emphasis on Kirby’s character, but also as a social commentary on gentrification and the impossibility of securing an affordable house in you’re trying to make ends meet working both a low paying day job and a night shift in a local bar, and even some extracurricular work that a female character shouldn’t have to put on her cv.

Benjamin Caron, who made his feature debut with the con artist movie Sharper - starring Julianne Moore - and also directed episodes of Andor and The Queen - in which Vanessa Kirby played Princess Margaret - gives Kirby ample opportunity to shine, and the actress, who cannot seem to give a bad performance, delivers in spades. While the supporting cast, which includes Randall Park, Julia Fox and Eli Roth is also quite good. 

I give it 3 1/2 stars!










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