Night Moves, film review: Multi-layered thriller shows how quickly idealism becomes muddied
(15) Kelly Reichardt, 112 mins Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard
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Your support makes all the difference.Reichardt's multi-layered thriller works equally well as an eco-fable and as a study in guilt and bad faith. Eisenberg, Fanning and Sarsgaard play environmental activists who blow up a hydroelectric dam and then struggle to cope with the consequences of their action.
There's a hint of Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov about Eisenberg's character, who becomes increasingly violent and furtive as he tries to protect himself.
Fanning, meanwhile, is so remorseful that she comes out in a rash. Sarsgaard is an ex-Marine with the practical knowledge to plan the act.
Reichardt probes away at her characters' motivations and contradictory feelings.
She doesn't judge them, but makes it very clear how quickly their idealism becomes muddied once they dirty their hands with direct action.
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