American Night review (2021)

American Night is an ambitious, if not always successful take on a Tarantino-influenced crime noir film. At times the script can be a too complicated and the shifts in tone jarring, but thanks to the ensemble, American Night is never a boring viewing experience.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Ambush) stars as John Kaplan, an art critic/forger who’s ready to leave his shadier past behind. Kaplan is all set to open up his first art gallery with his faithful assistant, Olivia (Alba Ramadani).

While working on the opening, Kaplan is also going strong with his relationship with the brilliant and beautiful Sarah Flores (Paz Vega). Additionally, Kaplan has to deal with his screw-up stuntman brother, Vincent (Jeremy Piven, Entourage), who’s on a long stretch of bad luck.

An Andy Warhol original is in transit and multiple parties want their hands on it. Chief among them is Michael Rubino (Emilie Hirsch clearly having a blast), the newly installed mob boss assuming control of the family business after his father’s death. The Warhol — a painting of Marilyn Monroe — has deep personal significance to Michael and he doesn’t care how many people get killed in order for him to retrieve it.

Director/writer Alessio Della Valle aims to give American Night the same kind of jumbled chronology of an early Quentin Tarantino film. Della Valle lacks the writing chops to make the various chapters flow cohesively enough to stand out on their own.

Characters are written in a manner where it’s up to the performer to provide the necessary spark to make scenes successful. Most are game and competent enough to keep the scenes engaging enough to keep viewers invested in what’s going to happen next.

Ironically to some extent, American Night probably would have made a stronger film had Della Valle simply told the story in a linear fashion. Shaking up the timelines of events only really works if the story has multiple layers and insightful perspectives. As American Night winds down and all of the angles and character motivations are revealed it almost invites viewers to watch it again with the knowledge of how the film plays out.

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Basing the film around Meyers’ Kaplan was one of Della Valle’s best choices. Meyers brings American Night a certain level of needed credibility as he’s fully capable of being the lead in a noir film that plays to his strengths as a performer. With a brooding and calculating mindset, Kaplan is a fascinating lead, which makes it more frustrating when Della Valle spends so much time on other side tier characters who aren’t nearly as interesting.

Add Vega to the side of compelling performers. She tends to take on more interesting roles and this one is no different. Della Valle leans heavy into dramatics at times opting for a cinematic opera feel for American Night.

No scene best exemplifies that then Kaplan reminiscing on making love to Sarah while covered in paint on a drop-down cloth. Della Valle shoots this scene like it’s this high-end artistic sequence contrasting with Michael Madsen’s gangsters are beating up Kaplan. Instead, it just comes off like an odder way to shoot Vega naked.

The cinematography occasionally gets too garish with bold neon colors and harsh lighting for scenes that would benefit from a softer touch.

Hirsch’s Michael is a quirky mobster who also wants to embrace his passion as a would-be artist. There’s some fun to be had with this type of character, but Hirsch has to create it all on his own as Della Valle doesn’t give him enough to work with from the script.

Kaplan is American Night’s driving force, but too often the film revisits earlier sequences from different perspectives. Della Valle is about 50/50 on if those multi-perspectives add insightful information to the story or simply pad out its run time.

At two hours and three minutes, the film isn’t short and feels like it really would have benefited from some diligent editing. If for nothing else than to aid the pacing.

American Night has all the parts needed for a smart, worthwhile noir heist piece with a strong main cast playing off an intriguing premise. The direction and script don’t make it an easy recommendation, but there’s a certain charm in its messiness that might get smoothed out upon a second viewing.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Martha Productions, QMI and Pegasus

American Night star Jonathan Rhys Meyers chatted with me about the film and why the filmmakers are hoping that its arrival on streaming platforms will lead to a wider audience experiencing it. Check out that interview here.

Stream American Night now on Amazon Prime.

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