KARLOVY VARY – If there is anything we’ve learned by watching “To The Night” which debuted at the 2018 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival today it’s that Austrian filmmaker Peter Brunner has a strong cinematic eye. He can compose images that startle and beguile. He knows how to construct a sequence that will compel you to either be intrigued or make you want to run screaming from the theater. There’s real talent there in that respect. Whether he can fashion that skill into telling a compelling narrative or at least a semblance of one remains to be seen.
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Norman (Caleb Landry Jones) is an artist who specializes in installations. He lives in a gigantic, old warehouse in New York City with his partner Penelope (Eleonore Hendricks) and their newborn child who he adores. Within the first 10 minutes of the picture, however, we discover how psychologically unbalanced Norman actually is and before you know it he’s been committed to a mental hospital. Six months or so later – or about two minutes of screentime – Penelope picks him up hoping he’s “better,” but you know where this is going already don’t you? Despite the medication he’s taking Norman suffers from an unrevealed disorder where he becomes manic, irrational and obsessive (he’s probably Bipolar but I’m only playing a doctor for the context of this review).
It takes a bit to piece together, but we eventually learn that at the core of Norman’s psychosis is the house fire that killed both his parents. Why the fire occurred or when this event took place is unclear, but the it has haunted him for most of his adult life and he returns to the abandoned estate/mansion time and time again trying to piece together some sort of closure. He’s built a miniature replica of the house as a guide. He has a friend who is even more mentally unstable than himself that he has videotape the interior. He puts himself in a dirty bathtub in one of the rooms and, using illegally obtained drugs, tries to induce a coma to “reboot” his brain. He’s obsessed with an image of a woman (seemingly his mother) stuck in the fire and he can’t let it go. Frankly, if you haven’t figured it out by now it’s pretty damn clear Norman shouldn’t be around children let alone his own.
After one of his countless manic episodes, Penelope finally has that obvious realization and escapes with their kid to the safe confines of a friend’s apartment (seemingly played by Abby Lee). While all this is going on Luna (Jana McKinnon) shows up on Norman’s doorstep hoping to crash for awhile. How they know each other or why she needs to stay at his place in the first place is never really explained (or was insanely easy to miss). In fact, besides a jaw-droppingly unnecessary sequence with a baby fetus (you read that right) it’s unclear why she’s even there at all except to provide a concerned female figure while Penelope is safe and sound somewhere in gentrified Brooklyn.
Eventually it seems as though Norman will either somehow kill himself trying to eradicate the memories of the fire from his mind or get thrown back into the mental hospital. Ah, if only we were so lucky. Brunner’s screenplay is so messy that the attempted third act climax plays out with startling little consequence. It’s almost too had to believe. Of course, it would be one thing if Brunner wanted the entire endeavor to be a nightmarish dreamscape, a surreal journey through Norman’s manic mindset, but it he clings to a weak need for coherent structure which based on this film, is not one of his strong suits.
“To The Night” is one of those projects that gets so bogged down in its own aesthetic mind f**k that you start to ignore the narrative and ponder, well, simple logistical questions such as: How is Norman paying to keep the lights on in his studio (or for anything for that matter)? Does the money from one art installation show really last almost a year? Why would Norman go to a mental hospital but be released with zero professional follow up? How does Penelope survive? Does she have a career? Who exactly is Penelope’s friend that lets her stay with her? Why does everyone keep playing with everyone’s hair? Why on earth is the movie called “To The Night” at all? And, most importantly, why does this movie want to ruin the reputation of anyone who goes to an underground warehouse party?
The only reason to justify experiencing “To The Night” is the talented Jones, but even that’s not enough. The “Get Out” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” star commits to the role with seemingly every pore of his existence. He’s clearly trying to bring Norman somehow to life. We’re just not sure his director, who should be guiding him, knew who Norman was to begin with. Grade: C
