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Vanessa Kirby’s new Netflix movie “Night Always Comes,” the streamer’s #2 most-watched movie in the U.S. at the moment, couldn’t be more different from her work in Marvel’s recent “Fantastic Four” installment. The drama, in which Kirby plays a woman racing against the clock to save her home, finds the Oscar nominee leading a rather dark story about survival, far removed from the cosmic spectacle of the superhero universe. “What drew me to the film was its exploration of survival and sacrifice and the idea of quiet heroism,” director Benjamin Caron told Netflix’s Tudum. “It asks the question, ‘Who gets to feel safe, and at what cost?'”
One thing that feels pretty remarkable to me about the film: At the moment, the only Netflix title pulling in more viewers than “Night Always Comes” (at least in the U.S.) is the runaway animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters,” which remains #1 ahead of a special sing-along version hitting theaters this weekend. Long story short, Kirby’s performance in “Night Always Comes” has clearly turned the film into one of the buzziest titles on the platform, and we’ll take a closer look below at what it’s about and who else is included in the cast.
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Caron has actually worked with Kirby before on a major Netflix release — he directed several episodes of “The Crown,” in which Kirby played the U.K.’s Princess Margaret. Caron’s “Night Always Comes,” adapted from Willy Vlautin’s 2021 novel, follows Kirby’s character Lynette over the course of one night in Portland as she navigates the demons of her past and ultimately makes choices that push her to the brink of self-destruction. “Lynette is driven by a desperate need for security, for the idea of home as much as, I guess, the reality of it,” Caron continued in his Tudum interview.
“Yet she is haunted by the fear that she doesn’t deserve it. Her journey is a study in propulsion. Each decision, no matter how reckless, is an attempt to outrun her past and carve out a future.”
The cast surrounding Kirby includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephan James, Julia Fox, Eli Roth, Randall Park, and Michael Kelly. If we’re being charitable, the movie has scored mixed reviews — a 56% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, for example, based on 41 reviews as of this writing. For what it’s worth, though, Kirby is magnetic as always here, with her eyes alone pulling off an acting masterclass all by themselves. Here’s just one scene from the movie, which Netflix shared to its official @netflixfilm account, to show you what I’m talking about. Kirby, as ever, is one of a kind.
