Keep an eye on director Seth McTigue - “Take the Night” his directorial debut has unexpected twists!

 

Keep an eye on director Seth McTigue - “Take the Night” his directorial debut has unexpected twists!

“Take the Night” which is director Seth McTigue’s debut feature opens with business tycoon Robert Chang (Sam Song Li) getting kidnapped which maybe he should have anticipated since he recently inherited his father’s business which didn’t make his elder brother William Chang (Roy Huang) happy and it’s clear that there is a rift between the brothers.

McTigue is good at building tension but we soon catch on, because it's all part of a fake-kidnapping scenario, a birthday 

prank that William has planned for his brother. Not the most classic twist. The director chose to tell this story in a non-linear format and we are quickly introduced by their secretary Melissa (Grace Serrano), to the 4 kidnappers, and provided key information about their social standing. 

The Chang brothers are rich, heirs of an entire empire that churns money and that includes Chang Import. This is like cat nip to the “kidnappers”: Chad (director Seth McTigue)– a haunted war veteran, his impulsive brother Todd (Brennan Keel Cook), Chad’s mute, wartime colleague Justin (Antonio Aaron), and an ex-basketball pro prospect Shannon (Shomari Love) – desperate for money.

But Melissa seems suspect, constantly looking at the photo of her estranged son. An odd duck for sure, she seems to take the prank with little emotion. 

Director McTigue takes time to set up the characters so we understand their personalities and internal conflicts, so when they begin the job, which is the fake kidnapping, we get a better sense of why they take this “job” a little too seriously.

There are some solid twists and turns crafted by McTigue, so for those that like a good chase of clues, this film will work but for others, it might seem a bit exhausting. It’s described in some marketing materials as a thriller but that might be a bit misleading as it’s a slow walk to the action.  

Like all films, there are always gems and in this film, I bow to the work of cinematographer Rainer Lipski and to the clever production design by Julian Brown. 

“Take the Night” get a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong but all in all, it’s a solid debut film by director Seth McTigue.