The Great Night

The Night is a world with its own set of rules. And the people who dive headlong into it know how to live by them. They walk the walk. Neon lights, sidewalks and lives drifting from one joint to another. Just as long as whatever haunts them stays away hidden in back of the brain or the heart. And then up all night until the first rays of the morning light comes backs again with an ominous hangover. But as long as the night has wrapped with its blanket the city everything is all right. Following several characters who inhabit the dark world of 24-hour bars, slot machine dives, night clubs and casinos, Petr Hátle’s film offers a glimpse into existences that live following a different beat. Like so many characters portrayed by Tom Waits or in Dr. John’s nocturnal hymn “The Night Tripper”, these people, driven by insomnia and sometimes the sheer desire of a thrill that only booze and drugs can fuel, stand on the outer limits of the cities awaiting the next drink, the next high or the next quickie. The Great Night is a collective observational portrait of human lives that shy away from daylight.

Giona A. Nazzaro