{"id":6756,"date":"2019-01-11T11:43:57","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T16:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=6756"},"modified":"2019-01-13T12:38:57","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T17:38:57","slug":"review-beyond-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=6756","title":{"rendered":"Review: BEYOND THE NIGHT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The impressively mounted \u201cBeyond the Night\u201d is the inspirational film that isn\u2019t. It\u2019s a kind of modern, religious narrative that knowingly understands that people of faith can endorse sophisticated, mature stories without sacrificing bite and reality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Ray Marrow (Zane Holtz) returns from a tour of duty in the Middle East to find that his wife has been killed in a car accident. He\u2019s left a single father to Lawrence (Azhy Robertson), a slight boy with a distinctive birthmark that covers most of the the right side of his face. Ray\u2019s sister, Caroline (a very good Tammy Blanchard) is a career sheriff\u2019s deputy, who takes her job very seriously. As they lay to rest one of their own, Lawrence begins to say disturbing things both at the funeral and at the subsequent wake. These things are details about the mysterious disappearance of a teen in the town. Could Lawrence have some kind of supernatural ability? What happened to the teen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zane Holtz plays a vet that survives the horrors of the battlefield only to return home to tragedy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sporting some wonderful cinematography from the lens of Daniel Sharnoff, who contributed camera work to last year\u2019s awards darling \u201cFirst Reformed,\u201d the modestly budgeted \u201cBeyond the Night\u201d is a top notch production. The story, penned by director Jason Noto, is fascinating and, while it takes it’s time to unfold, it never ceased to hold my attention. And the subtle religious underpinnings make it suitable viewing for the inspirational market, while not exactly fitting into the typical trappings that undercut other religious films. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his debut feature, writer\/director Noto smartly sets the action in a world not too unlike the ones often depicted by filmmaker Debra Granik (see \u201cWinter\u2019s Bone\u201d), who last year gave us the heartfelt and terrific \u201cLeave No Trace.\u201d The rural environment seen in \u201cBeyond the Night\u201d is gritty and familiar, a real place where real people struggle. Surprisingly, Noto even makes the potentially formulaic subplot involving a criminal, who is the father of the missing teen, work without falling completely into cliche. The criminal named Bernie Coleman is played with great menace by Chance Kelly, who is physically imposing, but, also, has a manner that screams danger. This subplot adds significant tension, as the Marrow\u2019s tragedy comes together with that of the Coleman family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chance Kelly is a grieving father who is also a dangerous criminal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeyond the Night\u201d is a tiny production that smartly never tries to do too much or ramp up the action to unrealistic levels. The supernatural element coalesces sympathetically with the religious material without pandering to the viewer. Given Ray\u2019s experiences on the battlefield and what he\u2019s had to come back to, his faith is understandably shaken. And like the questions swirling in a film like \u201cFirst Reformed,\u201d a movie like \u201cBeyond the Night\u201d provokes the viewer to think deeply about where faith fits in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tammy Blanchard is excellent as a sheriff’s deputy dealing with family carnage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ray, at one point in the film, acknowledges that he isn\u2019t a big believer in the Almighty, but he doesn\u2019t resist a kindly request to pray for him. The unknown out there is just that, not known. And faith takes many forms. It can manifest itself in ways we barely notice and can never fully understand. Sometimes, the words of a child tell us what we need to hear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Jason Noto gives us a movie about faith that doesn’t pander to its audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1182,1179,1183,1186,1184,50,1185,1187,1180,1181],"class_list":["post-6756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-azhy-robertson","tag-beyond-the-night","tag-daniel-sharnoff","tag-inspirational","tag-jason-noto","tag-movie-review","tag-religion","tag-supernatural","tag-tammy-blanchard","tag-zane-holtz","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6756"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6778,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756\/revisions\/6778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}