The Vast of Night

Up until two weeks ago, I had seen only two films that were worthy of being on my list of top ten films of 2020. One of those is the previously reviewed Disclosure. The other is Ken Loach’s 2019 film, Sorry We Missed You, which was not released in Canada until 2020. But I’ve watched two more top-ten-worthy films in the last two weeks, so it’s time to post reviews of the year’s best films so far (that I’ve been able to watch). One of those reviews is posted here. The others will follow during the next few days.

Amazon Prime (in Canada at least) does not offer the greatest collection of films (understatement). But one of the surprising gems on offer is a low-budget indie sci-fi flick called The Vast of Night that was released at the end of May (it was not financed by Amazon, but is being distributed by Amazon).

Set in the small town of Cayuga, New Mexico in the late 1950’s, the story follows the lives of two teenagers during one evening in fall, when most of the town’s people are watching a high school basketball game. Fay (Sierra McCormick), is a switchboard operator who suddenly hears strange sounds coming from her radio and over a telephone line. She calls Everett (Jake Horowitz), who works as a disc jockey at the local radio station, and he confirms the strange sounds were heard on the radio. When people start calling in about also seeing strange things in the sky, Fay and Everett take it upon themselves to investigate.

Uniquely framed to look something like an episode of The Twilight Zone, Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night looks and feels very much like something made in the late 1950’s. But while this film should be rated G and has a sci-fi B-movie feel, the production values are entirely Grade A, with stunning cinematography and style to spare. The acting by the unknown cast is likewise excellent, as is the writing by Patterson and Craig W. Sanger.

If you like well-made old-fashioned sci-fi films that are heavy on dialogue and atmosphere and low on action, don’t miss this one. The Vast of Night gets ***+ - ****. My mug is up.