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United States · 2010
Rated R · 1h 30m
Director Tanya Hamilton
Starring Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Wendell Pierce, Jamie Hector
Genre Drama, Romance
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Ex-Black Panther Marcus returns home to Philadelphia in 1976 and reconnects with Pat, the widow of a Panther leader. Marcus befriends Pat's young daughter and attempts to conquer his demons. But Marcus's good intentions are challenged by the neighborhood's racial and social conflicts, as well as old enemies and friends -- both with scores to settle.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Ms. Hamilton tells a modest, complex story with admirable clarity and nuance. That her film is so quiet, so evidently invested in contemplation rather than confrontation, gives it power as well as insight.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
Making a remarkable feature debut, Hamilton distinguishes herself more as a filmmaker than as a screenwriter. While she elicits smoldering performances from Mackie and Washington, the movie around them is rather diffuse.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
"Night" never quite coalesces into the forceful drama it hopes to be.
It raises tangled questions about whether it is better to live humiliated or arm yourself, yet for the most part it's dramatically inert, talky and directionless, and it ends quietly without saying much of anything.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Writer-director Tanya Hamilton's intellectually ambitious debut drama Night Catches Us is all the more notable for setting well-drawn fictional characters in a fraught, real moment in civil rights history.
The movie evokes its time and place so potently that it almost doesn't matter that Hamilton's script proves unequal to her vision.
Most successful are the scenes involving Marcus and Iris, a 10-year-old girl who grew up fatherless and watchful of her tumultuous surroundings.
Boxoffice Magazine by Pam Grady
This intelligent, emotional drama should resonate strongly with fans of character-driven stories and those interested in tales of American political struggle.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Hamilton manifests her vision of what politics can do to individual thinking with subtlety and sophistication. Remember her name. She's a genuine find.
For Washington, the wounds of the past are just beneath the surface, as close as the bullet holes under her kitchen wallpaper.
Tony T. Chopper, the new Animal King!
Two actresses play different sides of the same woman, Cassandra, who struggles to arrange her mother’s funeral.