Cold Comes the Night (2013)

A struggling motel owner and her daughter are taken hostage by a nearly blind career criminal to be his eyes as he attempts to retrieve his cash package from a crooked cop.

Director:

Tze Chun

Writers:

Tze Chun, Oz Perkins (as Osgood Perkins)

Stars:

Alice Eve, Ursula Parker, Logan Marshall-Green

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alice Eve	...	Chloe
Ursula Parker	...	Sophia
Logan Marshall-Green	...	Billy
Sarah Sokolovic	...	Gwen
Ashlie Atkinson	...	Social Worker
Robin Lord Taylor	...	Quincy
Bryan Cranston	...	Topo
Dylan Chalfy	...	Police Officer
Eleni Lucas	...	Cashier
Marceline Hugot	...	Denise
Erin Cummings	...	Amber
Leo Fitzpatrick	...	Donnie From Cincinnati
Robert Prescott	...	Detective
Stephen Sheffer	...	Jacques
Chazz Menendez	...	Thick Thug

Storyline

A struggling motel owner and her daughter are taken hostage by a nearly blind career criminal to be his eyes as he attempts to retrieve his cash package from a crooked cop.

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Plot Keywords:

motel owner | motel | prostitutes | prostitution | voyeur | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes the fight of your life comes in the dead of night.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cold Quarter

Filming Locations:

Windham, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stage 6 Films,Sasquatch Films,Syncopated Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sophia's pet Mr. Jones is a painted turtle, a very common species in North America. He is listed in the credits (in the Stunts department) as HHH Duck - his real name is 'Horny Horny Horny Duck'.

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Goofs

When Quincy gets in the car at the mini mart you can see exhaust coming out of the tale pipe he talks to Topo about going to a motel then he starts the engine.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sophia: I don't wanna go to school. I said I don't wanna go to school.
Chloe: Oh, is that what that was?
Sophia: Mom...
Chloe: You can't stay here with me all day, Sophia.
Sophia: You know how to do a lot of things. You are very smart. Smarter than me, definitely. Then why do I have to go to school?

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Crazy Credits

'HHH Duck' is listed in the Stunts section of the credits as playing 'Mr. Jones the Turtle' (Sophia's pet - a painted turtle). 'HHH' stands for 'Horny Horny Horny'.

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Soundtracks

GOT SOMEBODY TO DREAM ABOUT
Written by Chelsea Brown and Justine Brown (the Summer Twins)
Performed by Summer Twins
Courtesy of BURGER RECORDS
Published by SUMMER TWINS MUSIC (ASCAP)

User Reviews

A stylish, and tense, modern film-noir.

Montreal lies due north of New York. To the south of Montreal are the Adirondack Mountains. It was here, at Saranac Lake in December 1887, that Robert Louis Stevenson first conceived of 'The Master Of Ballantrae', and decided to use the location for a setting in his novel. South of there lies Albany the capital city of the state of New York, and south of there is Sullivan County, where, in Bethel, was staged the famous Woodstock Festival of 1969.

Halfway between New York and Montreal, up the Hudson River, between Sullivan County and Albany, are the Catskill Mountains and Greene County. This is the setting for this film, but the Greene County of this film is a million miles away from the government in Albany or the hippies of Woodstock. Rather, the Greene County setting, is as dark as that Saranac setting of R.L. Stevenson.

After the credits, the film starts pleasantly enough with a mother sending her kid off to school. There follows a few short scenes which show effectively and efficiently the drudgery of the woman in her work. She works in a motel, as manager, chamber-maid, and sole employee, and she and her daughter live there too.

One night two men decide to stay in her motel. They are men on a mission. Not a mission from god, but rather their mission is to transport Mr Alfred Hitchcock's McGuffin.

The overnight stay at the motel starts a chain of events that quickly spiral out of control. At the centre of these events is Bryan Cranston, who plays one of the coldest characters ever seen since Tom Cruise in 'Collateral' (2004). Cold, ruthless, and unemotional, the words "I am a friend of your mothers", are truly terrifying.

The mother herself, played by Alice Eve, also shows no emotion or expression. She too is cold. She is portrayed as passive and submissive. This reviewer, whilst puzzled by this, feels that this must be a deliberate film-making decision; to show these characteristics as a learnt defence mechanism, which the mother has adopted to help her deal with her past and present circumstances.

At the heart of this film is the McGuffin, and the battle of wits between the male and female lead. Both leads are mostly laconic, and if you are looking for a film-noir with more twists than a pretzel, then you will not be disappointed by this film that fulfils the conventions and expectations of the genre.

Good support is given by the rest of the cast. Special mention should go to Ursula Parker, playing the daughter, who gives a very natural performance. Praise too, for Logan Marshall-Green, who plays a cop, and gives a very animated, heated, and passionate performance, which is the complete opposite of that of the two (cold) leads.

Some clever filming enables the audience to experience things through the eyes of the protagonists.

Viewers should not expect to learn everything. Some questions, and some plot-threads are deliberately left unexplained or vague. It is clear that some things are understated and left to our imagination.

If you liked 'Hard Eight' (1996), 'Collateral' (2004), or the recent 'Dead Man Down' from earlier this year, then this dark, tense, film is for you. Warning: Contains blood. 8/10.