I made it a week. Even being glued to cable TV for a super important runoff election and for a literal insurrection couldn’t stop me. I will admit, that when I say I didn’t let those things stop me, I mean that only in the most literal sense. 2021 is taking after 2020 in that everything is exhaustingly long. This post is coming out rather late because instead of watching a movie right after work, I needed to take a cortisol induced nap. All that’s to say, tonight’s movie may have ended up on docket because of it’s rather short runtime.

The Vast of Night (2020, Dir. Carlo Mirabella-Davis)

The Vast of Night is a poster child for movies that are worse than the some of their parts. I know that makes it sound like I didn’t care for the film, but that’s not the case. The movie had some absolute bangers of bangers of parts, but all-in-all I think it was merely very good.

The obvious standout of the film was the opening act. Filled to the brim with flashy camera work and exciting dialects, the opening sparks with energy that the film never quite finds again. We’re introduced to our two leads Everett Sloan (Jake Horowitz) and Fay Crocker (Sierra McCormick) as separately both make temporary appearances at the high school basketball game before it begins. After an on the fly introduction via interactions with people we will never meet again, the two leave together to go to their separate part time jobs. The two teens work while seemingly the rest of the town is in attendance that the game they’re missing; the game that’s obviously the most important thing going on that night.

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One week in, I’m really glad I gave myself this goal. It’s helped me drastically increase my film watching after my down year last year, yet it’s never felt arduous. Obviously I’m only 1/52 through the challenge, and it’s far more likely that I’ll miss a day than keep this up uninterrupted, but what matters right now is that I’m feeling the happy having taken this on.