Manhattan Nocturne (2016)

Manhattan Nocturne (2016) a.k.a. Manhattan Night

You’ll have to explain to me one day the point of changing titles in French-speaking countries if it’s to keep them in the original language (cf “The Hangover” translated as… “Very Bad Trip”!). Here “Manhattan Nocturne” becomes “Manhattan Night”, which changes everything! 😀

How did I get involved in this film? I must have been looking for a detective film mixed with a thriller. So…. Thriller, yes… not really, because it’s the story of a journalist who investigates and searches for the truth, without shying away from showing the morbid.

Anyway, I came across this film. And I said to myself “Look! Adrien Brody! This could be really cool…”. I don’t love all his films, but he’s clearly got nothing to prove since The Pianist (2002).
But it’s true that I love The Jacket (2005), Predators (2010) and Bullet Head (2017) is also a very good film. Wrecked (2011) isn’t bad at all. Adrien plays very well in King Kong (2005) and Detachment (2011). He plays my favourite character in Summer of Sam (1999) which I didn’t like, but I’ve seen it twice just for that actor. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) is a nice film to see once or twice.

Well, I won’t go on forever, because his filmography is long!

The film’s charming asset is Yvonne Strahovski, born Yvonne Jacqueline Strzechowski. I didn’t know her. Oh yes, I did! Apparently, she was in the catastrophic The Predator (2018), the one I hated most of the saga.

Let’s start again! When I saw Yvonne, I thought she reminded me of other actresses. For a few seconds I thought of Sharon Stone, then Amber Valletta… but suddenly it was clear to me: she reminded me above all of Naomi Watts! And that’s not so surprising, given that both are part Australian.

Someone wrote: “Caroline Crowley is wonderfully played by Yvonne Strahovski, whose beauty explodes on screen in this film. Remember, we discovered this pretty Australian of Polish origin in the series 24h Chrono and Chuck, but she didn’t leave a lasting impression.

I’m not familiar with her filmography and I thought she’s probably best known for The Handmaid’s Tale, but I guess she’s in her big femme fatale role here! The kind of seductress roles that will leave a mark on quite a few people’s minds. Just as Sharon Stone did in Basic Instinct, Diane Lane in Unfaithful or Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in… Femme fatale!
Yes, as always, the list goes on and on!

Yes, by the way, I found this paragraph from another review: “That said, this barely two-hour thriller, with its very slow pace, is a purely atmospheric film, reminiscent of the work of Clint Eastwood and, more to the point, Paul Verhoeven! The parallel with Basic Instinct seems fairly obvious, which is rather flattering for Brian DeCubellis. Yvonne Strahovski manages to be as sensual and toxic as Sharon Stone and some of the torrid scenes are really very similar in terms of intensity.”

And, other than that, I have to admit I was glad to see Jennifer Beals (Flashdance, Vampire’s Kiss, The Grudge, 2, The L Word…) back, even for a small role.

Well, as you may have guessed, the actors aren’t the problem! It’s the film itself…

The actors are good, and it’s not their fault, but the story is pretty rubbish and the direction isn’t up to scratch at all, unfortunately. Yet I believed in it right up until the middle of the film (when the trap falls on us) and I realised that nothing could save him. The confession scene and the suspense surrounding the blonde’s secret finish what we were already expecting…

Come to think of it, there’s nothing really interesting in this film. It’s a scenario where you have to wait almost an hour to find out what it’s all about. As a result, my interest and patience were exhausted and unfortunately all I had to do was wait for the ending, which is also very conventional.

The plot is different from the usual noir novel because, as I said at the beginning, the main character is not a detective but a newspaper columnist. Porter Wren (Adrien Brody) becomes a detective in the course of his work. But it’s not just him! There’s everything: the manipulative blond woman who is so fragile you can’t blame her, the tortured mad artist, the slightly confused journalist, the rich tycoon still in search of power… and New York by night, by day, with its snowflakes and hip-hop dancers.

Summary & Conclusion: Brian DeCubellis’s first film gives us the pleasure of seeing the excellent Adrien Brody again in the role of an old-fashioned investigative journalist, out of fashion in an age when everyone has the opportunity to catch an immediate scoop thanks to the electronics that surround us. But Porter Wren (the journalist he plays) doesn’t care and continues to work as best he can.

One evening, Porter is approached by a very attractive woman, Caroline Crowley, who makes him an offer. Will he accept?

This could have been a good, fairly classic script, given that it’s really well acted by talented actors… but there’s something really missing to make it work.

Maybe you should see it sometime! But not a priority…