While 2020 has had a large scarcity of big blockbusters due to theaters being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there actually has still been a decent number of smaller, indie titles coming out. Don’t get me wrong, I really miss going to the movies right now, but one thing I’m thankful for is that I’ve been experiencing a lot of these smaller titles that I might have otherwise missed out on. I probably would have never seen The Vast of Night since we’d normally be in full summer blockbuster mode right now, which is a shame because The Vast of Night is a really solid movie, and if you’re looking for something to watch right now I highly recommend it.

The Vast of Night takes place in the late 1950s, and it focuses on a switchboard operator named Fay and a radio DJ named Everett. One night, Fay hears this strange audio frequency, and she’s trying to figure out what it is. She lets Everett know about it since it’s interfering with his show, and so Everett opens up the line to his listeners to call in if they know anything about the noise. The two start to get some answers that essentially revolve around the frequency being from an alien spaceship, and the mystery unravels from there.

So, right off the bat I think you’ll know whether or not this movie is for you. Some people really aren’t into alien conspiracy movies at all, while others live for this sort of thing. The movie really does end up appealing more to the latter, of course, but I think it’s enjoyable if you like any sort of sci-fi kind of movie. The thing about The Vast of Night is that it doesn’t really present any new or groundbreaking ideas on the subject, but it still works. I think this is because the biggest thing that the movie succeeds with is its presentation.

The Vast of Night is a short movie to begin with, clocking in at under 90 minutes, and yet the movie makes the interesting choice of having very long scenes. Almost all of these scenes include very long monologues or conversations of dialogue between two characters. This is incredible because there really isn’t that many cuts in the movie because of this, so I was really impressed how the relatively new actors were able to carry a scene for as long as they did. The movie really succeeds in just letting its plot unfold by holding a camera on a character and simply letting them talk or listen.

However, like a lot of things in film, this can unfortunately sometimes be a double-edged sword, and so the thing I found most impressive about the movie was also its biggest drawback for me. Due to the nature of the kind of movie this is, it’s very heavy on just letting its story unfold through characters telling you things. This means that you just get a lot of exposition being told to you all the time. This will be egregious for the people out there that are firm believers in the “show, don’t tell” philosophy, and so I totally get that this might not be for everyone. I’m not gonna lie, there were definitely certain points during long scenes where I kind of just zoned out, and ended up missing some important plot points because of it.

So, you do need to know what kind of movies you’re getting into with The Vast of Night, but for those that are on-board, I think you’ll really enjoy it. It tells its story in a really unique way that you don’t often see in movies like this, but it ends up being really effective most of the time. There were times that I wished I had some sort of visual aid to the information that was being spoken, but for the most part the long scenes do work more in the movie’s favor than against it. If this movie sounds like it’s up your alley, then I recommend watching it, especially because it’s free for anyone that has Amazon Prime. This one is a really unique, weird ride, and I love it.

4/5