"One Night" Review by Anthony Thurber

One Night
Year: 2007
Director: Michael Knowles
Stars: Bill Sage, Melissa Leo, Christian Campbell
MPAA Rating:
Studio: 7A Productions
Running Time: 98 Mins
Review Rating: 5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.onenightthemovie.org/



One Night is a film that has been circulating on the festival film scene for a while. The film has played in various festivals including the Tacoma Film Festival, Kent Film Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival, and most recently at the Solstice Film Festival and the Sunscreen Film Festival, where director Michael Knowles won Best Director.


The film focuses on various character that include, an A&R representative that is having an affair with his young assistant behind his beautiful girlfriend’s back because he has a very bottomless feel that he becoming older. A young sensitive college student, who’s madly in love with her boyfriend while thinking that one of her closest friend, is childish. An twenty something woman, who meets a man for the first time in person after meeting him through the internet. A middle-aged woman, who is looking to change her life and a nervous actor, who finally gets be with the person who he has dreamed about. Through out the night these characters all convene at the same music venue where their lives will change either for better or worse.

One Night is a great film that examines human relationships and intimacy between people who are looking for love. Writer/director Michael Knowles’s direction of the film was very good. He does a great job not making the various plot lines and the drama in the film confusing, since the film focuses on a lot of characters. Knowles direction of the actors and actresses performances was very good. This is definitely the best ensemble piece that I’ve seen this year, so far. Their performances were great. It’s great because of the script that they had and the actors performed their roles very well, which helped bring out the personality of each of the characters. It’s movies like this that you appreciated the craft of acting, when people are there to act and passionate about the material.


The major thing that makes One Night great was Knowles’s screenplay. He does a great job exploring the aspects of human interaction, relationships, and intimacy. The characters that were created for the film were good, as they varied in age from college students to people in their late forties. The reason why he puts it there was to explore these issues, like an older man in love with a younger woman or the interaction of two character that in their forties still searching for love. Knowles also keeps each of the subplots moving by being in a closed environment for most of the film, so they could interact with each of the other characters and makes the viewer become involved with each character’s story. Also. I liked how the characters were intersected into each of the various plotlines. It helps make the story of the film and the characters in it interesting. Knowles also did a good job exploring the dark side of love, as he focuses on the sadness and the things they would do that would drive people who are desperate to be loved.


I definitely suggest that you check this film out, if it’s playing at your film festival. One Night is a very entertaining look at the need for human interaction and intimacy.


Upcoming Screenings:


Solstice Film Festival St. Paul, MN June 2008 Date, Time, and Venue: TBA