Gone in the Night Movie Storyline. After a night full of awkwardness and flustering flirtations, Kath (Winona Ryder) learns that Max has run off with the other woman (a blisteringly hot Brianne Tju). Bereft and bewildered, she tries to make sense of this betrayal, which leads her to the cabin’s grizzled but sophisticated owner, Nicholas (Dermot Mulroney in smoke-show mode).
With salt-and-pepper hair, a deep voice, and a shared appreciation for making fools of cocky young men, he makes a strong impression. But the script by Horowitz and Matthew Derby veers smoothly away from rom-com territory with a sprinkling of sci-fi elements and a series of flashbacks that reframe everything we think we know about that night at the cabin.
Gone in the Night is an 2022 American thriller film, directed by Eli Horowitz, in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Horowitz and Matthew Derby. It stars Winona Ryder, Dermot Mulroney, John Gallagher Jr., Owen Teague and Brianne Tju. It had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 13, 2022. It was released in theaters on July 15, 2022.
Film Review for Gone in the Night
If there’s a faster way to get an audience on side than casting our beloved Winona Ryder as the long-suffering girlfriend of a loser guy, watching The Cow I struggle to imagine what that could be. Ryder plays Kath, a delicate, quiet soul who loves gardening and, somewhat bewilderingly, her manchild stoner boyfriend, Max (John Gallagher Jr.).
Travelling for a weekend getaway in an isolated cabin, the couple’s plans are thrown askew when they arrive and discover another couple, Al (Owen Teague) and Greta (Brianne Tju) are already there. Somewhat awkwardly accepting the invitation to spend the night there as well until they can figure out what to do, Kath awakens the next morning to find that Max and Greta have run off together. And from here, things only get stranger.
Co-written and directed by Eli Horowitz, The Cow flips between present and past to unpack Kath and Max’s stories. Revealing the details of these beyond the film’s set up risks spoiling the fun, and good golly, what fun it is. Joined by Dermot Mulroney who plays the owner of the country home and who joins Kath on her investigation, The Cow brings together the power of a strong cast with a compelling screenplay to deliver a one-two punch of a cinematic experience that delves into mystery terrain, albeit while keeping true to its dark and increasingly twisted sense of humour.
Structured as much around tensions between city and country as it is past and present, The Cow is one of those deeply complex films that through the joint powers of its collaborators both in front and behind the camera somehow manages to make it all look very easy indeed. Whether the twist works – and oh boy, what a twist it is – will ultimately be up to the taste preferences of the given viewer, but there is no doubt that the set up alone makes this film well worth the ride alone. Once again proving that the long-awaited Winona Ryder renaissance is well and truly here, The Cow is regardless so much more than a star vehicle.
Gone in the Night (2022)
Directed by: Eli Horowitz
Starring: Winona Ryder, Dermot Mulroney, John Gallagher Jr,
Owen Teague, Brianne Tju, David B. Schively, Nina E. Jordan, Dustin Ingram, Yvonne Senat Jones, Alain Uy, Kunal Prasad
Screenplay by: Eli Horowitz, Matthew Derby
Production Design by: Susannah Honey
Cinematography by: David Bolen
Film Editing by: Arndt-Wulf Peemöller
Costume Design by: Joanna David
Art Direction by: Krista Lu
Music by: David Baldwin
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout and brief bloody images.
Distributed by: Vertical Entertainment
Release Date: March 13, 2022 (SXSW), July 15, 2022 (United States)
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