In spite of her slim filmography, Kelly Reichardt has quietly been making a name for herself. 2010’s Meek’s Cutoff and its stranded 19th century American settlers put the director on the radar for many critics; there’s a reason she’s Madison Film Forum’s Director of the Week.
Beyond the fact that Night Moves ushers in the fall Cinematheque calendar this Friday, Reichardt’s latest also falls in line with the quiet confrontation of Old Joy (2006), Wendy and Lucy, (2008)and Meek’s Cutoff. Jesse Eisenberg’s stewing loner joins a silver-spooned rebel (Dakota Fanning) and an unreliable acquaintance (Peter Sarsgaard) in a plot to destroy Oregon’s Green Peter Dam. And if you didn’t think canoeing could be intense, think again.
Unsettlingly voyeuristic, Night Moves is like The East as envisioned by a peeping tom. From an alienating first sequence, Reichardt puts her camera on the periphery of the action, and when she’s not busy keeping us at arm’s length, she’s emphasizing just how far removed from modern society her activists are. Eisenberg, Fanning, and Sarsgaard have arrived at their extremist credo by choice. Where Night Moves succeeds is in its dissection of those choices. Parsing out motivations yields an uncomfortable suffocation that all the fresh air in the world can’t help.
- Cinematheque’s fall slate kicks off at 7:00p this Friday, Sept. 5 with Night Moves in 4070 Vilas Hall. FREE.