Journey to the End of the Night (2006)

The tale of a son and his father separately plotting to escape the desolation of their lives in the lurid underworld of Brazil's sex industry...

Director:

Eric Eason

Writer:

Eric Eason

Stars:

Brendan Fraser, Mos Def, Scott Glenn

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brendan Fraser	...	Paul
Mos Def	...	Wemba
Scott Glenn	...	Sinatra
Catalina Sandino Moreno	...	Angie
Alice Braga	...	Monique
Matheus Nachtergaele	...	Nazda
Ruy Polanah	...	The Soothsayer
Gilson Adalberto Gomes	...	Samy (as Gilson Gomes)
Luke Denis Nolan	...	Lazare
Milhem Cortaz	...	Rodrigo
Antonio Pinto	...	Detective Moosbruger
Ana Paula Demambro	...	Drena (as Ana Paula De Mambro)
Marcio Garcia	...	Club Manager
Ingrid Costa Silva	...	Club Hostess
Cristina Sverzuti	...	Prostitute #2 (as Cristina Sverzuti Fidencio)

Storyline

In a dark and decadent area of São Paulo, the exiled Americans Sinatra and his son Paul own a brothel. Paul is a compulsive gambler addicted in cocaine and his father is married with the former prostitute Angie, and they have a little son. When a client is killed by his wife in their establishment, they find a suitcase with drugs. In the night that they have scheduled a negotiation with African buyers, their African liaison dies while having sex with the travesty Nazda. Sinatra proposes to the Nigerian dishwasher of the brothel, Wemba, to travel to the harbor of Santos, close the business with the drug dealers and in return he would receive a large amount. Wemba accepts but while returning to his car in the harbor, he is attacked by two smalltime thieves and passes out. His lack of contact with Sinatra and Paul leads to a sequence of misunderstandings with a tragic end.

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Plot Keywords:

sex | brazil | prostitute | cocaine | suitcase | 

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Taglines:

You can escape anything but your destiny.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Germany Brazil

Language:

English Portuguese Yoruba

Release Date:

9 January 2007 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

The Little Thief

Filming Locations:

Brazil

Box Office

Budget:

$6,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG IV, Big City Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Lee's Beat"
Written by David Lee Scott
Performed by David Lee Scott (BMI)

User Reviews

The Night of Entwined Mistakes

In a dark and decadent area of São Paulo, the exiled Americans Sinatra (Scott Glenn) and his son Paul (Brendan Fraser) own a brothel. Paul is a compulsive gambler addicted in cocaine and his father is married with the former prostitute Angie (Catalina Sandino Moreno), and they have a little son. When a client is killed by his wife in their establishment, they find a suitcase with drugs. In the night that they have scheduled a negotiation with African buyers, their African liaison dies while having sex with the travesty Nazda (Matheus Nachtergaele). Sinatra proposes to the Nigerian dishwasher of the brothel, Wemba (Mos Def), to travel to the harbor of Santos, close the business with the drug dealers and in return he would receive a large amount. Wemba accepts but while returning to his car in the harbor, he is attacked by two smalltime thieves and passes out. His lack of contact with Sinatra and Paul leads to a sequence of misunderstandings with a tragic end.

"Journey to the End of the Night" is a movie about losers that have a second chance in life, but waste it along a night of entwined mistakes. None of the characters is totally evil, they are ambiguous and develop a sort of empathy with the viewer. Scott Glenn plays an owner of a brothel, but also a family man concerned with the future of his son. The addicted and violent character of Brendan Fraser has a deep trauma from his childhood. Angie, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, is divided between Sinatra and Paul. Wemba, played by Mos Def, is a simple honest worker that accepts to participate in a dirty business to raise easy money. The excellent Brazilian actor Matheus Nachtergaele performs a travesty in a key role. Watching this film somehow I slightly recalled "After Hours", a comedy of errors in New York. The lighting uses weird colors (yellow, red, green) and together with the bad weather, highlights the underworld of a poor and dark area in the cold São Paulo, in a film-noir style. The story is predictable, there are many coincidences, but I liked this movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "12 Horas Até o Amanhecer" ("12 Hours Until Dawn")