Manhattan Night (2016)

I'll admit, this one's a little baffling. "Manhattan Night" has all of your usual noir clichés and a generally melancholy vibe, but it is far from a nail-biter. There is a point, late in the game, where things actually do heat up, but it is a genuine challenge getting there. And this is a movie with more than one naked Yvonne Strahovski scene. That's criminal, man.The movie's worth it for the cast (Jennifer Beals is always an asset) and there is a payoff in the end, but I can't say I'll be coming back around for this anytime soon.5/10

We watched this at home on DVD from our public library. It is an interesting story but things are presented in a way that often makes it hard to grasp exactly what is going on.Set in modern times, 2015 Manhattan, Adrien Brody is Porter Wren, a dying breed of newspaper investigative reporter. As he says in the voice-over today with all the social media that all the younger generation loves a story with pictures goes around so efficiently that once it hits the newsstand in print it is old news.But he did find a lost child and for that he gained a reputation and is sought after to find out what really happened in an 18-month old case of death. The one doing the seeking is the dead man's wife, Yvonne Strahovski as Caroline Crowley. We only see her husband in flashbacks, he is Campbell Scott as filmmaker Simon Crowley. We find that he proposed to Caroline the same night he met her, at a bar, and she accepted. But he turned out to be a really deranged guy. But now she wants to know how he actually died.Wren's wife is a noted surgeon, Jennifer Beals, still looking young in her 50s, as doctor Lisa Wren.We were entertained, it is an interesting story with some interesting twists, but not all of them made a lot of sense.SPOILERS: As it turns out the husband died in her presence. He was playing this dangerous "dare" game in an abandoned building set for demolition the next day. He had her chained to an elevator, threatened to let it pull her down if she didn't answer his questions. She gets the jump and kills him with a stab to the neck but he had swallowed the key to her ankle restraint. So she had to use a bottle opened to cut him open and get the key. All caught on video that Wren discovers. The real reason she hired Wren was to find out who was sending SD cards with damning video to Mr Hobbs, the quirky owner of the newspaper Wren worked for. Her deceased husband had set that up with an innocent woman who got $500 a week just to mail the duplicate SD cards to Mr Hobbs.

The film was based on the book named 'Manhattan Nocturne'. Excellently made film, it's the director's first feature film as well. He did not get the top actors, but these actors were the good ones. Adrien Brody and Yvonne Strahovski were amazing their respective roles. It was not a detective story, but very close to being one. So if you love crime-mysteries, then you should try this. The tone of the film makes very interesting. It's not about the question of story prediction, but how cleverly it was advanced like the characters were transformed compared to the opening and the conclusion.Some films open strongly, but ends poorly. In this case, the opening was average, but ended on a high. The main reason is the middle parts, keeping all contents together and developing some suspense with a couple of quick twists made this film to reach the expectation made by its viewers. It was a tale of a recently famed reporter finds an affair with a young widow, despite he's married with a child. Soon, he discovers some mysterious men are watching him, who threatening his family as well. How he gets out of that trouble by finding reasons behind it is what the rest of the film narrates.It looked a lot like a television film. Not because of the production quality, actually the production was top class, but the story and its narration felt kind of like a mini-series type. I don't know how many books are there, but I want this to continue, at least as a television film series. One of the best of its kind, I almost liked everything about the film. But I still feel I underrated it, at the end I'm satisfied with what I gave. Definitely, I recommend it.7/10

Neo-Noir Fans will probably Like but not Love this Entry with Adrien Brody and Yvonne Strahovski. The Film's Noir Ambiance Captivates and sets the Disturbing, Moody, Gloomy Backdrop. All those Neons, Rain, Reflections, and Claustrophobic Corridors are some of the things that Paint a Film-Noir Picture of an Underlying Dread.Welcome as they are and just as Expected in Cinema as Art, the Story on Top of the Trash must make for a Twisted Tale of Murder, Blackmail, Perversion, and other such Dark Places of the Human Condition. This one Delivers on that Notion.Speaking of Dark, there has been a Lot of Ink and other Critical Venting on the Title Change. The Original was "Manhattan Nocturne" and was Rethought as "Manhattan Night". This seems to be a bunch of Nit-Picking Apart to find some kind of Entry Point for Commentary. "Nocturne" is a Really-Cool Word and does Connotate "Noir" (black), "Night" is not as Poetic as "Nocturne" but it still works as "Darkness". It's just not as Flowery a Word. No Harm, No Foul. Now that is out of the way, Moving On.The Complexity of the Plot Intrudes somewhat, but not to the Point of Frustration. It keeps You on Your Toes. There is Murder, Blackmail, and other Disturbing and Disorienting Things unfolding in this Modern Rendition of the Genre that includes...Print is Dead and Cameras Everywhere. Its Topical with Self-Involved Moderns using Technology to Capture Every Moment of Every Day in Egomaniacal EcstasyOverall, this is more "Neo" than most in the Genre with Campbell Scott as a Film-Director Mysteriously found Dead and all of His "Found Footage" reveals a Quirky, Sexually Obsessed Weirdo. Actually the Movie isn't as Weird as it Thinks, but does Skirt the Edge of Human Behavior that is Unpleasant but Real Nonetheless and although Watching other People "On Camera" (now a National Pastime), whether Intentionally (YouTube) or not is a Reality that is Here, In-Your-Face and what it Exposes is something that the Noir-World of Yesteryear Never Saw Coming.