Wednesday, June 3, 2020

The Vast of Night


The Vast of Night                                                        G
This Amazon Original film was said to have been inspired by The Twilight Zone (I hope I don’t have to clarify that that means the original Rod Serling series) and I can certainly attest to that (the movie is actually presented on a box TV as part of a series entitled Paradox Theater).  It takes place in New Mexico during the Fifties (according to a synopsis) although I don’t recall anything indicating exactly when; I just knew it was before 1974 based on what one character said, but I should’ve figured it was the Fifties if it was emulating that aforementioned anthology series.  Much like The Twilight Zone, it takes a simplistic yet effective approach to its execution, basically “less is more” and it completely works with predominantly dialogue in its 90-minutes.  This sci-fi thriller was very suspenseful in telling instead of showing and sometimes, despite what many writing professors will tell you, that can be just as effective as showing instead of telling (one of the best examples is the scene in Jaws where Quint describes what happened with the USS Indianapolis).  I don’t want to reveal too much as I do recommend you check it out for yourself, especially if you like the original Twilight Zone.  6/2/2020


---Sean O.
6/3/2020

No comments:

Post a Comment