THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD (aka La nuit a dévoré le monde)
(Starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Golshiffeh Farahani. Written by Jeremie Guez. Directed by Dominique Rocher.)
I think we all have certain expectations from a zombie movie. People are infected, they attack the uninfected and we watch as usually a small group fight for their lives in attempt to survive. It is a simple premise but it has actually churned out many good movies with slight variations on that theme. Most recent successful attempt would be TRAIN TO BUSAN, which is nothing short of spectacular. Whereas that was made in South Korea (which I went in expecting nothing and was completely blown away), THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD was done in France, and we definitely get a different perspective on the genre.
Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie) shows up at his ex-girlfriends apartment to collect some tapes he left. She is throwing one of the biggest parties ever crammed into a single apartment and she keeps giving him the runaround and leaving him on his own. He finally loses his cool and demands his things, she says they are in the office at the end of the hall and for him to go there and wait for her. On his way through the crowded hall he gets hit in the nose and once in the office it starts to bleed. In attempt to stop the bleeding he sits down and leans his head back and quickly falls asleep (should note, he locked the door to the room when it accidentally opened and he feared one of the partygoers was going to walk in).
The next morning Sam wakes up to a quiet apartment. He opens the door to find the place ransacked and blood smeared on the walls. He opens the front door he sees his ex and calls to her. When she turns around half of her face is ripped off and she lunges towards him. He slams the door. He is several floors up in this building and looks out the window to see the streets cluttered with zombies, and a handful of survivors being attacked. Welcome to hell.
(Starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Golshiffeh Farahani. Written by Jeremie Guez. Directed by Dominique Rocher.)
I think we all have certain expectations from a zombie movie. People are infected, they attack the uninfected and we watch as usually a small group fight for their lives in attempt to survive. It is a simple premise but it has actually churned out many good movies with slight variations on that theme. Most recent successful attempt would be TRAIN TO BUSAN, which is nothing short of spectacular. Whereas that was made in South Korea (which I went in expecting nothing and was completely blown away), THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD was done in France, and we definitely get a different perspective on the genre.
Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie) shows up at his ex-girlfriends apartment to collect some tapes he left. She is throwing one of the biggest parties ever crammed into a single apartment and she keeps giving him the runaround and leaving him on his own. He finally loses his cool and demands his things, she says they are in the office at the end of the hall and for him to go there and wait for her. On his way through the crowded hall he gets hit in the nose and once in the office it starts to bleed. In attempt to stop the bleeding he sits down and leans his head back and quickly falls asleep (should note, he locked the door to the room when it accidentally opened and he feared one of the partygoers was going to walk in).
The next morning Sam wakes up to a quiet apartment. He opens the door to find the place ransacked and blood smeared on the walls. He opens the front door he sees his ex and calls to her. When she turns around half of her face is ripped off and she lunges towards him. He slams the door. He is several floors up in this building and looks out the window to see the streets cluttered with zombies, and a handful of survivors being attacked. Welcome to hell.
Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie) fights the undead.
The rest of the movie is Sam attempting to survive in the apartment building. As soon as the zombies are all locked outside he goes to the main office and takes the keys to all the apartments and enters each one to collect any and all food he can get his hands on. He soon has pretty much all he needs to survive for a good period of time, until he runs into Sarah (Golshiffeh Farahani), a survivor that happens to make it to the building from the rooftop, and Sam accidentally shoots her thinking she is a zombie. It is at this point that Sam’s mental state starts to waver.
THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD is not really a zombie movie per se. That is, if you are going in to see DAWN OF THE DEAD, you will be disappointed. There are some great looking zombies, there are some good attack scenes, but there is also a lot of long scenes of Sam just coping with the situation. It felt like if they were to add zombies to the movie CASTAWAY and instead of Tom Hanks talking to Wilson, we have Sam taking to Alfred, a zombie that is trapped in a elevator… you would pretty much have the same movie.
I began to wonder if the zombies really existed as this seemed more a metaphor for a person that just shuts himself off from the world. At one point Sarah is trying to convince Sam to go with her to the next building via rooftop and Sam argues that there is no reason. They have food and the zombies can’t get in, they are safe. Basically it is illustrating how most of us are scared of life. Locked in a job we hate but too scared to quit because we don’t know what will happen if we try to improve ourselves, we may fail and have nothing… something is always better than nothing. Living somewhere we don’t want to live but too scared to travel as we don’t really know if the grass is greener on the other side. Are these actual zombies or are they the fears and anxieties most have and we just don’t want to battle them so we just stay where we are safe and comfortable and keep them locked out.
THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD is not really a zombie movie per se. That is, if you are going in to see DAWN OF THE DEAD, you will be disappointed. There are some great looking zombies, there are some good attack scenes, but there is also a lot of long scenes of Sam just coping with the situation. It felt like if they were to add zombies to the movie CASTAWAY and instead of Tom Hanks talking to Wilson, we have Sam taking to Alfred, a zombie that is trapped in a elevator… you would pretty much have the same movie.
I began to wonder if the zombies really existed as this seemed more a metaphor for a person that just shuts himself off from the world. At one point Sarah is trying to convince Sam to go with her to the next building via rooftop and Sam argues that there is no reason. They have food and the zombies can’t get in, they are safe. Basically it is illustrating how most of us are scared of life. Locked in a job we hate but too scared to quit because we don’t know what will happen if we try to improve ourselves, we may fail and have nothing… something is always better than nothing. Living somewhere we don’t want to live but too scared to travel as we don’t really know if the grass is greener on the other side. Are these actual zombies or are they the fears and anxieties most have and we just don’t want to battle them so we just stay where we are safe and comfortable and keep them locked out.
Welcome to hell.
Even before the zombie attack, when Sam was at this massive party, he kept to himself and never talked to anyone but his girlfriend. And after the zombies were present Sam didn’t do the one thing that anyone would do after such an event, go find a working TV or radio to see if they can get any information on what was happening. Not one TV or radio in the movie, this is the first thing you do in any zombie movie, even if the TV or radio doesn’t work, it is at least established that an attempt was made. There is literally no explanation or even an attempt to figure out where the zombies came from. And Sam came there to get his cassette tapes? He is a musician (actually a really good drummer if that was him playing) and he is still working with cassette tapes? Is that a French thing?
Nonetheless, I liked this movie, I hated this movie… I was all over the place. As zombie movies go it is slow moving, but enough is happening to keep you interested. I think if you throw your true zombie sensibility (is there such a thing?) out the window and maybe enter in a philosophical state, it is a good one-time viewing. But, if you are wanting a “balls to the wall” zombie movie, check out TRAIN TO BUSAN instead.
Nonetheless, I liked this movie, I hated this movie… I was all over the place. As zombie movies go it is slow moving, but enough is happening to keep you interested. I think if you throw your true zombie sensibility (is there such a thing?) out the window and maybe enter in a philosophical state, it is a good one-time viewing. But, if you are wanting a “balls to the wall” zombie movie, check out TRAIN TO BUSAN instead.
