'Night Catches Us' evokes strong memories
The title comes from a Jamaican saying, “Don't let the night catch you,” meaning, I suppose, that you shouldn't let the darkness perhaps the dark past overtake you.
Jamaican filmmaker Tanya Hamilton wrote and directed “Night Catches Us” as a portrait of a Philadelphia community trying to stitch itself back together in the days after the cops crushed the Black Panthers and ripped the town apart during a dark era of racism and violence.
Set in 1976 and the film looks authentically period, having been shot in the city's relatively unchanged Germantown “Night” begins as a former Panther named Marcus (Anthony Mackie) returns home for his father's funeral.
Old wounds quickly reopen, for the community believes Marcus turned a Panther leader over to the cops, who subsequently executed him, leaving behind a widow, Patricia (Kerry Washington, who creates visual magic with a red dress) and her daughter, Iris (Jamara Griffin).
Marcus wants Patricia and Iris to come away with him and escape Philadelphia and the bad memories. Patricia wants to stay and heal her community, come what may. Then there's the impressionable teenager Jimmy (Amari Cheatom), whose infatuation with the Panthers, their attitude, their attire and their guns, pushes him into action against the police, but he embraces the violence without understanding why and how the Panthers used it.
“Night Catches Us” utilizes generous amounts of doc footage of the real Panthers, and it will undoubtedly evoke strong memories of the period from boomer audiences.
Hamilton, a 42-year-old first-time feature director, draws a sharp bead on the feelings and look of the period. But the drama possesses the studied personality of a made-for-cable production that delivers a far better mood than it does an articulated stand on Philadelphia's most passionate and well-armed group of community organizers.
“Night Catches Us” opens at the Chatham 14 in Chicago. Rated R for language, sexual situations and violence. 88 minutes. ★ ★½
Fun-raiser fundraiser
CNGM, the independent filmmaking group consisting mostly of Fremd High School grads from Palatine, will sponsor a program of shorts and trailers as part of a fundraiser for its next feature, “Fortress of Forever,” slated to start production next spring. The shorts “Out Secured” and “Shot Out of Love” will be shown along with Dennis Florine's music video “Romina,” plus some trailers for CNGM works. Tickets cost $20 in advance ($25 at the door) and you can buy them at cngminsider.com. The event (it's got a speak-easy theme going, so don that fedora and swing those beads!) starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago.
(Incidentally, CNGM's paranormal series “Irving Renquist: Ghost Hunter,” featuring a lot of Northwest suburban talent, premieres on DVD Jan. 25. Go to irvingrenquist.com for details.)
Autism-friendly movie
A special showing of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” will be sponsored by area AMC Theatres for families affected by autism and other sensory issues. Auditoriums will bring up lights and turn the sound down. Families can bring in gluten-free, casein-free snacks. No previews or advertisements will be shown. (Hey, how come all the other movie audiences can't get this deal?)
Viewers can dance, walk, shout or sing. AMC's infamous “Silence is Golden” policy will not be enforced unless safety becomes an issue.
Tickets for the 10 a.m. Saturday showings can be purchased at AMC theaters in South Barrington, Northbrook, Warrenville, Naperville, Lake in the Hills and Yorktown 17 in Lombard. Go to autism-society.org/sensoryfilms for details.