★★☆☆☆
27 April 2017
A movie review of BRIGHT NIGHTS. |
‘”He never gave us an opportunity to forgive,” Kim
It is hard to care about any of these characters. Michael (Georg Friedrich) is grumpy and morose. His son Luis (Tristan Göbel) is sulky and morose. BRIGHT NIGHTS is meant to be about fathers and sons, ands shines little insight. The acres of silence between the leads leaves an audience scratching their head as to the point. One does not want spoon-feeding, but we still need some substance to ponder over.
It is hard to care about any of these characters. Michael (Georg Friedrich) is grumpy and morose. His son Luis (Tristan Göbel) is sulky and morose. BRIGHT NIGHTS is meant to be about fathers and sons, ands shines little insight. The acres of silence between the leads leaves an audience scratching their head as to the point. One does not want spoon-feeding, but we still need some substance to ponder over.
Michael’s estranged father has passed in Norway, and he needs to leave Berlin for the funeral and to tie up the estate. Sister Kim is uninterested in joining him. The parent’s death, however, causes Michael to reassess his life. Divorced, later admitting to having treated his ex callously, he sees it as a last ditch attempt to reconnect with his own estranged offspring, teenager Luis. A meandering road trip ensues.
The ending is predictable, yet not cathartically entertaining either. That is some ball-dropping. How much introspection do we as humans do? Is it enough? With Brexit and the voting in of Donald Trump, it appears far from enough. So one welcomes a movie tackling wrongs committed to be righted by the committer. A shame then that more wisdom is not proffered.
I didn’t ask to be born. One can (jokily) aim that at our parents. A positive of BRIGHT NIGHTS, beyond the beautiful landscapes, is that our parents may f**k us up, but we have to learn from their mistakes/successes – especially if we have children of our own. Just because Michael’s father messed up parental responsibility, does not give a free pass to his son. The thrust of BRIGHT NIGHTS is whether the protagonist has realised this too late. (At least he tries?) Though, we do not discover why Michael’s dad was such a disappointment. Total lack of information does not make a story universal. There are too many characterisation gaps to fill in.
The duo are in Scandinavia during summer, with almost perpetual daylight; is this supposed to be a metaphor? Groan. Even at only 86 minutes, this feels like a poor use of time.
So much narrative and character space left empty of profundity. With this and GOLD, director Thomas Arslan underwhelms as a filmmaker.