Popular reviews

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 1

  Interesting to read so much about character "likeability" with regards to this movie which seems so beyond the point of its slow, feel-bad procedural style that I don't even really know how to address that. It's very clear that the goal here is to capture how thoroughly dispiriting environmental activism can feel. Whether that's a politically useful lens in which to view the subject is one thing but personally, I found by hyper-focusing on the alienation of everyday complicity vs. the logistical flaws of resistance Reichardt dramatically captures the soul-crushing genius of this system which is that it is so overwhelmingly large it makes both joining it and resisting it an act of individual moral compromising. Bleak stuff.

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  Review by Alice Stoehr ★★★★ 5

  I jotted down some notes about this movie while at work, so I figured I might as well transcribe them here:

  This is a bleak movie. A muted, narrow terrorist thriller. It contains exactly two acts of violence, both represented obliquely. But the anticipation of or fallout from these acts permeates every remaining second. These are three characters who are going to do something—who, before long, have done something, the end result of meticulous planning. That fact about them informs their behavior, strains their relationships, controls their lives.

  On its surface, this is a story about activism; it immerses itself in the question of how to change the world for the better. But you'd never mistake it for agitprop or…

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  Review by Matt Singer ★★★★ 6

  This movie is basically divided in two by a crucial event at its midpoint; I'd rate the first half a masterpiece of procedural suspense, and the second half a solid good, so we'll call it a 4-star movie overall. My big beef with the latter part is Eisenberg; he makes a one-character piece a bit too one-note. Eisenberg can play a marvelous motormouth; here he's cast as brooding loner, and not a particularly convincing one; I found his coiled spring of paranoia and anger surprisingly flat. Some of the early scenes, though, are as good as they come. The way Kelly Reichardt conveys information with a glance or a lingering shot is just incredible. Plus, all the HOT FERTILIZER PURCHASING ACTION (which is actually the best sequence in the film).

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  Review by #1 gizmo fan ★★★½ 2

  if I ever see that little mark zuckerberg bitch in person... it's on sight

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★½

  if I've learned one thing from cinema, it's to never follow Peter Sarsgaard to a second location

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  Review by Lucy ★★★½ 2

  “you said no one would get hurt”

  as far as the premise and pacing goes, this is easily one of the most accessible additions to reichardt‘s filmography. and still, i don’t think i’d recommend it over most of her other films. her narratives thrive best with more wide open space to keep things as atmospheric as possible. this is sparsely thrilling and and will probably grow on me with time, but i feel like i’ll be returning more often to the others

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★½ 2

  Reichardt's slow-burn hippie thriller is a major minor Dostoyevsky-esque thriller haunted by convictions & their consequences.

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  Review by Joe ★★★★ 1

  Second movie with this title not to have any Seger on the soundtrack, it's not funny anymore guys, quit it.

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  Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★

  Slow-burning eco-thriller that skillfully navigates ethical intricacies like tolerating Jesse Eisenberg’s crestfallen visage throughout the entire runtime.

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  Review by Auteur ★★★★★ 5

  With Night Moves Kelly Reichardt has solidified her place among my favorite American directors working today. A crossover in any sense of the word, this film is not only her most accessible in terms of story, but also her most significantly evolved work of art, a character study cum film noir that recontextualizes the genre's tropes into a claustrophobic masterpiece (with a welcome air of cynicism), that simultaneously observes and comments on the fine line between progressivism and anarchy. It's also a major indication of the power and control a director has over his/her work, and one of the greatest arguments for having final cut that contemporary cinema has ever seen.

  The film begins quite brilliantly in medias res, as…

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  Review by iana ★★★★½ 1

  KELLY SLAPSSSSS

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★ 2

  "Yeah, it's got to be big. If people are going to start thinking anyway... Killing all the salmon just so you can run your fucking iPod every second of your life. And that's what's gonna happen. People are gonna start thinking. They have to."

  But they don't have to, and much of the film spends its time interrogating this idea that political projects need to be "big". Reichardt quickly sets up a contrast between Jesse Eisenberg's character, who wants to blow up a dam (a single "big" project), and activists who are trying to spread awareness or simply be the change they want to see (screening political films or living outside of mainstream society; many continuous "small" projects).

  If it's…