NIGHT MOVES IS A NOIR WHYDUNNIT
Why would three eco-terrorists blow up a dam on a river in Oregon that already has several dams? That’s the question that bugs filmviewers if they care to stay to the ending of Night Moves, directed by Kelly Reichardt. Early in the film a documentary-within-the-film makes the case that the world is headed for environmental catastrophe, but the documentarian counsels small moves, not big ones. One in the trio, Dena (played by Dakota Fanning), believes that the oceans will dry up by 2048. The other two (Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard) buy the idea without articulating why. Accordingly, the early part of the film, character development, is boring. The plot to damage the dam heightens interest. But the noir ending will definitely leave filmviewers questioning why the film was made in the first place. MH