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American Night (2021), Pop Art, Gangsters, and Metamodernism

American Night (2021)

&NewLine;<p>It can feel like an easy to escape to describe all derivative art at postmodern&comma; campy&comma; self-reflective&comma; or even metamodernist&period; The truth is that every film made today borrows from its predecessors in some way&comma; whether it relies on existing modes of production&comma; storytelling devices&comma; visual effects&comma; or something else entirely&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Copying” earlier works has simply become a necessity&comma; to one degree or another&period; Films like Alessio Della Valle’s <em>American Night<&sol;em> &lpar;2021&rpar; play with the status of pop art and post-postmodern culture &lpar;or what I like to refer to as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;metamodernism”&rpar;&comma; in a way that makes overt copying palatable and&comma; at times&comma; highly entertaining&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Much in the same way that Quentin Tarantino blurred the lines between high and low art in <em>Pulp Fiction <&sol;em>nearly 30 years ago&comma; Della Valle actively draws our attention to the arbitrary delineations in the world of art criticism&period; He works this message into nearly every aspect of the filmmaking process&comma; from the story&comma; which focuses on the theft and attempted reclamation of Andy Warhol’s <em>Pink Marilyn<&sol;em>&comma; to the casting and title of the film&comma; and everything in between&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Though the story unfolds in a series of random vignettes and disjointed scenes&comma; it ultimately gives us a very firm sense of understanding and closure&period; John Kaplan &lpar;Jonathan Rhys Meyers&rpar; is an art forger attempting to open his first legitimate art gallery&comma; shaking off the violence and ugly dealings of his past&period; Meanwhile&comma; Vincent &lpar;Jeremy Piven&rpar; is a down-on-his-luck stunt actor and martial arts expert who has struggled with recent bouts of dizziness that have made it impossible to work&period; Vincent has no desire to get involved with John’s formerly nefarious business deals again&comma; but he’s also desperate for cash&period; Thus&comma; the two meet for a drink at the very moment when a courier is dropping off Andy Warhol’s <em>Pink Marilyn<&sol;em> in the same bar&period; However&comma; gangsters shoot up the bar and attempt to take back the original painting&comma; which was stolen from Michael Rubino &lpar;Emile Hirsche&rpar;&comma; a wealthy gangster and wannabe artist&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;11&sol;Screen-Shot-2021-11-17-at-5&period;28&period;38-PM-1024x462&period;jpg" alt&equals;"woman in bathtub movie scene" class&equals;"wp-image-2460"&sol;><figcaption><em>American Night<&sol;em> &lpar;2021&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><meta charset&equals;"utf-8">The story unfolds in three acts&comma; each of which differs tonally and aesthetically&period; When taking in the film as a whole&comma; the tone seems to be all over the place&comma; but this also speaks to the artificiality of Della Valle’s direction&period; He borrows heavily from others&comma; but still manages to devise something that refuses to fit into a predesigned mold&period; It’s like an old dog that has somehow learned how to do a few new tricks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>American Night<&sol;em> has a lot of tertiary characters who play pivotal roles in the film&comma; but much like <em>Pulp Fiction<&sol;em>&comma; the story often takes a backseat to the style&period; In addition to making a relatively cynical comment on the nature of modern art and art criticism&comma; the film also functions as an amalgamation of dozens of disparate influences&period; But above all else&comma; <em>American Night<&sol;em> showcases the artificiality of cinema&comma; particularly metamodernist cinema&comma; for the sake of its audience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;11&sol;Screen-Shot-2021-11-17-at-5&period;23&period;18-PM-1024x555&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Jonathan Rhys Meyers action movie" class&equals;"wp-image-2461"&sol;><figcaption><em>American Night<&sol;em> &lpar;2021&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The title of the film&comma; <em>American Night<&sol;em>&comma; also happens to be the name of a nightclub in which several scenes take place&comma; though it doesn’t seem to hold much significance in the grand scheme of things&period; This works to draw us out of a story that is&comma; frankly&comma; designed to be derivative and cliche&period; Fortunately&comma; there are plenty of stylistic flourishes and bizarre nods to figures like Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock&comma; particularly the former&comma; as his art is at the center of the entire film&period; Consequently&comma; the story is more of a setpiece through which Della Valle’s visual and conceptual vision can come to light&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>When casting the film&comma; one can only laugh at some of the choices&comma; as they seem specifically designed to be distracting&period; Jonathan Rhys Meyers&comma; an Irish actor best known for playing Henry VIII in <em>The Tudors<&sol;em>&comma; stars as an American conman and art connoisseur&period; Additionally&comma; inserting Jeremy Piven as a martial arts-obsessed stunt man opens up a lot of questions&comma; given his short stature and stocky build&period; Finally&comma; the icing on the cake is Emile Hirsche&comma; a very not-Italian actor playing the ascending Godfather-esque leader of an Italian crime syndicate&period; None of it makes much sense&comma; but again&comma; this further draws our attention to the artificial nature of the medium&period; Films are not real&comma; and when we try to read them as recreations as reality&comma; we are almost always disappointed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;11&sol;Screen-Shot-2021-11-17-at-5&period;26&period;05-PM-1024x596&period;jpg" alt&equals;"American Night crowd scene" class&equals;"wp-image-2462"&sol;><figcaption><em>American Night<&sol;em> &lpar;2021&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Lastly&comma; the cinematography completely abandons reality with jarring transitions from traditionally-lit scenes to neon-colored hallways and sets that would put Dario Argento to shame&period; The first half of the plot takes place&comma; by and large&comma; within the confines of an obvious studio set&comma; flourished with neon bar signs and highly decorated streets&period; And while the story borders on camp&comma; the true savior of <em>American Night<&sol;em> is the underlying message it sends to viewers&colon; everything you’re seeing is extremely fake&comma; so try not to take it too seriously&semi; just sit back and enjoy the ride&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"has-medium-font-size wp-block-heading">American Night &lpar;2021&rpar; Movie Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;h3>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’d like to watch <em>American Night<&sol;em> &lpar;2021&rpar;&comma; it is currently available to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B09H9LDF42&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B09H9LDF42&amp&semi;linkId&equals;4a478a5bdb4c3596e7ba75cfc76baced">rent or purchase via Amazon Prime<&sol;a>&comma; as well as various other movie streaming platforms&period; For more film reviews like this one&comma; be sure to check out the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film<&sol;a> homepage&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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