Sounding in its broad strokes like any one of myriad lousy storefront grinders, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT is a cut above, redeemed by a surfeit of style and fun performances. Pity the filmmakers didn't spend more time on the story, or they really would've had a winner on their hands.
The plot is typical porn pro forma, with three dissatisfied husbands (Jamie Gillis, Eric Edwards and Alan Marlow) bemoaning that while sex with their wives is fine, it all gets the same... NIGHT AFTER NIGHT. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, the three go in on an arrangement with a hooker (Darby Lloyd Rains), who they each agree to take for one night of the week. That's about all she wrote, with (SPOILER) the wives unknowingly going tit-for-tat at the end by doing the same with a gigolo. (END SPOILER)
This is the same type of non-story garbage that fills up so many desultory 16mm grinders, so I was pleasantly surprised to see NIGHT approach this well-trodden material with style. Where most films would be content to grind out a few scenes between the guys and their wives, followed by a few more with Rains and a group grope for the conclusion, NIGHT strives to be a cut above, skillfully and fluidly intercutting all three couples' fornicating while making brilliant use of a complete absence of music, using the sounds of natural passion to drive up the heat. For these first 20 minutes, I almost thought I had a bona fide masterpiece on my hands, though the film eventually (and unfortunately) delivers on the grim promise of its bare-bones plotline and settles in to directionless lovemaking.
Nevertheless, even as things drag on, the fleetness of the editing and skill of the performers (nearly all of whom are NY XXX royalty) keep things from completely flatlining. Kim Pope and Helen Madigan are both engaging, giving performances that push their characters a step above the cardboard cutouts they could have been, while the aforementioned Gillis digs into his blowhard line readings with Shakespearian gusto. Still, it's Rains and Pope who really shine, with the former granting her call girl a surprising warmth and affability while the latter transforms what would typically be a shrewish nag of a wife into a puckish and self-possessed woman unabashedly concerned with and capable of advocating for her own pleasure. Pope's performance is surely the most surprising and delightful element here, and makes you wish the film had the nerve to strive for a more ambitious storyline in which to ground it. As is, NIGHT is essentially SEVEN (PORNO) CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR - surprisingly successful when measured by the low bar it sets for itself, but all the more tragic for how much potential it lets go to waste.
The plot is typical porn pro forma, with three dissatisfied husbands (Jamie Gillis, Eric Edwards and Alan Marlow) bemoaning that while sex with their wives is fine, it all gets the same... NIGHT AFTER NIGHT. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, the three go in on an arrangement with a hooker (Darby Lloyd Rains), who they each agree to take for one night of the week. That's about all she wrote, with (SPOILER) the wives unknowingly going tit-for-tat at the end by doing the same with a gigolo. (END SPOILER)
This is the same type of non-story garbage that fills up so many desultory 16mm grinders, so I was pleasantly surprised to see NIGHT approach this well-trodden material with style. Where most films would be content to grind out a few scenes between the guys and their wives, followed by a few more with Rains and a group grope for the conclusion, NIGHT strives to be a cut above, skillfully and fluidly intercutting all three couples' fornicating while making brilliant use of a complete absence of music, using the sounds of natural passion to drive up the heat. For these first 20 minutes, I almost thought I had a bona fide masterpiece on my hands, though the film eventually (and unfortunately) delivers on the grim promise of its bare-bones plotline and settles in to directionless lovemaking.
Nevertheless, even as things drag on, the fleetness of the editing and skill of the performers (nearly all of whom are NY XXX royalty) keep things from completely flatlining. Kim Pope and Helen Madigan are both engaging, giving performances that push their characters a step above the cardboard cutouts they could have been, while the aforementioned Gillis digs into his blowhard line readings with Shakespearian gusto. Still, it's Rains and Pope who really shine, with the former granting her call girl a surprising warmth and affability while the latter transforms what would typically be a shrewish nag of a wife into a puckish and self-possessed woman unabashedly concerned with and capable of advocating for her own pleasure. Pope's performance is surely the most surprising and delightful element here, and makes you wish the film had the nerve to strive for a more ambitious storyline in which to ground it. As is, NIGHT is essentially SEVEN (PORNO) CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR - surprisingly successful when measured by the low bar it sets for itself, but all the more tragic for how much potential it lets go to waste.