The Sunlit Night
- 2019
- 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
An aspiring painter meets eccentric locals and a fellow New Yorker while working on a barn in Norway.An aspiring painter meets eccentric locals and a fellow New Yorker while working on a barn in Norway.An aspiring painter meets eccentric locals and a fellow New Yorker while working on a barn in Norway.
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
Featured reviews
This film, like all art, is in the perspective, and there is so much of it in this great little film. Characters you care about - one way or the other. People you know. Humor. Disappointment - in yourself and others. Some things in it sneak up on you. The one main art piece at the top of the world took my breath away! WOW! Watching the completion of "It" was worth watching the whole film. Now I want one. It's quiet. It's subtle. It's smart. Enjoy!
This is a Jenny Slate project, she is Producer and stars as Frances. She was 36 or 37 when this was filmed so we will go with that age for her character. Her mother and father are both artists of different kinds, in Manhattan. She is trying her hand at art and as the movie opens three art critics are examining one of her colorful abstract paintings. They are not impressed, perhaps the translation is "Go find some other career."
Then in quick succession she finds out her younger sister is getting married and her parents are splitting up. She needs to change her life, she needs to get away from her familiar things and places. She accepts a summer internship in a secluded place in northern Norway, in Lofoten where the sun never sets in summer. She will work for a well-known artist. When she gets there she finds they will be painting a barn and she will live in a small trailer at water's edge. With a young goat!
The movie is about that summer. Slate is good in the role and the movie is suitably quirky. There is nudity, but not erotic nudity. It all fits very well. The cinematography is excellent, making good use of the natural beauty of the area. The summer is difficult in many ways but overall very useful for Frances, she has a new perspective on her life and her art takes a new direction.
At home, streaming on Amazon Prime.
Then in quick succession she finds out her younger sister is getting married and her parents are splitting up. She needs to change her life, she needs to get away from her familiar things and places. She accepts a summer internship in a secluded place in northern Norway, in Lofoten where the sun never sets in summer. She will work for a well-known artist. When she gets there she finds they will be painting a barn and she will live in a small trailer at water's edge. With a young goat!
The movie is about that summer. Slate is good in the role and the movie is suitably quirky. There is nudity, but not erotic nudity. It all fits very well. The cinematography is excellent, making good use of the natural beauty of the area. The summer is difficult in many ways but overall very useful for Frances, she has a new perspective on her life and her art takes a new direction.
At home, streaming on Amazon Prime.
Very enjoyable, (as much as I hate to use the term) quirky, indie film about art, artistic growth and expression. Jenny Slate is the fish-out-of-water as she travels from Brooklyn to Norway, finding her "voice" along the way.
Not much dramatic tension or big moments but that's okay. Lovely to look at and listen to and any chance to spend time with Slate is worth it.
Not much dramatic tension or big moments but that's okay. Lovely to look at and listen to and any chance to spend time with Slate is worth it.
This movie was beautiful, and Slate certainly delivered a great performance of a messy, figuring-out-life artist who makes a bold move. But the relationship they introduced, which could have been left as a wonderful stranger dynamic, totally took away from story. It felt abrupt and unnecessary, and it diminished the very real characters they had established fairly well in the first half of the film.
A simple story enlivened with humor and pathos. Excellent cast. Jenny Slate deserves more roles like this. Understated and thoughtful. Zack G's comic role is probably unnecessary but does deliver some nice laughs. Enjoyable and engaging.
Did you know
- TriviaNotable works of art in display order: The Little Owl or Tawny Owl (circa 1506-1508) by Albrecht Dürer; Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow (1930) by Piet Mondrian; unknown seascape; unknown abstract waves crashing; unknown abstract modern gold on black; Frescoe of Musical Angel with Violin (circa 1472) by Melozzo da Forlì; The Louvre Virgin of the Rocks (circa 1483-1486) by Leonardo da Vinci; The Apotheosis of Hercules (1733-1736) by François Lemoyne; irrational cube (1958) by M.C. Escher; unknown pattern; Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin (April 1889) by Vincent van Gogh; Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin (August, 1888) by Vincent van Gogh; unknown madonna and child; Portrait of one of Cornelis de Vos' children (probably), seated in a baby chair (1762) Manuel Salvador Carmona, Former Attribution: Peter Paul Rubens; Boy with a Basket of Fruit (circa 1593) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio; unknown painting of man and woman with back to artist; unknown sketch of women and man; Couple Walking Between Rows Of Trees (1890) by Vincent van Gogh; unknown yellow monochromatic mosaic, 1 of 2; unknown yellow monochromatic mosaic, 2 of 2; unknown sun over lavender; The Sower (1888) by Vincent van Gogh; Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun (1889) by Vincent van Gogh.
- Quotes
[Haldor and Fridge Girl watch Frances walking away]
Haldor: Sometimes I feel like I should just go home. Because I feel so much like a troll.
Fridge Girl: I like trolls. They're so strong and they're never afraid, and they work in dark, cold places. Like me.
- SoundtracksPrelude No. 1 in C Major
(Ave Maria)
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Arranged by George Wilson
Courtesy of Warner/Chappell Production Music
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $8,090
- Runtime1 hour 46 minutes
- Color
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