A Stormy Night (2020) Poster

(I) (2020)

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7/10
Love the film, congrats
guillediazxx25 July 2020
Just seen the movie and I love it, how it reflects natural conversations between gay guys and also I could feel that sexual tension between them accross the whole movie, always walking between a moral line that is different for everyone. Well filmed and it was a good choise the black and white. Congrats an hope to see your next movie!
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7/10
Ships In A Storm
dadaltd-6580415 February 2022
Two strangers meet during a stormy night thanks to a mutual friend. One is a film maker from Spain on is way to a festival in California that is showing his documentary. The other works from home on a dating app, a gay dating app, and hosts the filmmaker on his unscheduled layover in NYC/Brooklyn.

An intimate film, a character study of two strangers whose brief encounter changes both their lives, not in big dramatic terms but sufficiently that one feels both have grown in small but discernible ways thanks to the encounter.

The black and white cinematography feels appropriate and reminds one of character driven European films of the 50s and 60s. There is a graduate student feel to the film (thesis project), some stilted dialogue, and wish there had been more clarity and development in the characters. But given the obvious budget restraints, the sensitivity to the subject, and the charm and ease of David Moragas as actor, I'd say it's an auspicious beginning.

If you don't need car crashes and sex but enjoy the subtle and more lyrical character study, you'll appreciate the work here.
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7/10
Enjoyable dialogue
gadbearr26 November 2021
This movie was surprising. Sexual tension and good dialogue make for a few tense moments. Each person has their own level of morality. It's good to see this open discussion.
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6/10
A Stormy Night
CinemaSerf3 December 2022
A threatening storm is playing havoc with flights from New York and causes "Marcos" (David Moragas) to seek shelter at his friend's apartment. She has gone alway to avoid the weather, but her friend "Alan" (Jacob Perkins) is there and the remainder of this film depicts the twenty-four hours (or so) as these two gay men learn a little about each other. It is quite intimately filmed, this - but the whole story is contrived and over-scripted. Perkins brings an intensity to his performance, but the underlying themes of love, happiness, frustration etc... are depressingly familiar. Despite the odd quip and some fairly predictable attempts at humour, this really just comes across as a rather unfulfilling story that left me indifferent to both characters and rather bored with a will they/won't they dynamic that really fails to get off the ground - and never looks like it should either. The audio of the thunder and lightening around them, along with some frequently rather dingy lighting, does lend a little to the atmosphere of the scenario, but in the end Perkins just has way, way too many lines to deliver and, well, eighty minutes seemed to take much longer.
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6/10
Ambitious
jromanbaker29 May 2020
No there is no sex in the film, and it is in black and white and it is more or less confined to various rooms. A Spaniard has to stay over because of a storm in a stranger's house and spends the night there with one of the two lovers who live in it. They talk a lot and sometimes the camera moves and sometimes there is just stillness of camera movement. I have seen a lot of films like this and notably Rohmer's ' Ma Nuit Chez Maud ' comes to mind. It is not as good ( for me ) as the Rohmer but it is an ambitious film. Why ? It questions monogamy, and the two characters resist their attraction towards each other. I know for a lot of homosexuals the lack of sex is frustrating, the black and white pointless but there is such a thing as austerity in film. Dreyer, Bresson, Ozu and to a lesser extent Bergman showed that it works and holds an audience and this film clearly wanted to hold an audience's attention. I think it could have worked better with actors who were clearer in their speech. I missed out a fair bit of the dialogue and had to rewind. This was annoying but I found the film a refreshing change from a lot of Gay film which has a shower scene to indicate that we will see nudity etc, etc, etc. I hope Gay people will stop accepting formula. This film is finely directed and certainly deserves better and more intelligent reviews. I personally feel it did not quite succeed, but for those who lack concentration it will not succeed at all. It demands attention to solid dialogue and intimacy without sex. Agnes Varda was mentioned in the dialogue. I do not think she would have had difficulty with it, but then she would probably have needed subtitles and for parts of the film so did I. See it if you can.
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1/10
Question mark !!!
harowil2 February 2022
Horrible !!! It is pointless and depressing! It never actually gives the impression that it is even going anywhere. What was even the emotive for a plot that would parallel a piece of packing material that fell out of a box!
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6/10
Ambitious Undertaking
Figaro1415 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Many will detest this film because it is, simply put, two guys talking. The film is, for the most part, a stage play and is very much in the spirit of 60s modernist European cinema. The acting is strong and the the script is thought-provoking. The film avoids the obvious cliché of having the two characters end up having sex together. They simply talk. I think many of the negative reviews on here are because there is really no intense conflict that develops in the storyline.
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1/10
Gaybage
patrickkeown6 August 2022
What a piece of garbage. I can't believe I watched this movie. Such a waste of time. It felt like the dialogue of a gay porno; and not a good one. The one American actor-if you can call him that- is so terrible. He definitely shouldn't continue with this profession.
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7/10
Gays talking. Two opposite worlds encounters.
fabrizio-297-90599824 June 2023
Some people are not used to watch plays and this huis-clos, is close to it. So I get that some didn't like it, or stopped watching it early, that's not a reason to say it's bad. It's a type of story that lets you identify, think, dream. Who's not in one of the side of this line there is between them ?

They are absolutely opposite in nearly all matters you could think of. Even on cooking or how to go out buy as stuff under the rain, love versus sex, and so many other things I won't tell not to spoil it.

That is the whole point of the movie. I did, as surely anyone watching it, focused on when or will it even or should it ... happen. What can possibly happen between those two persons ?

But the exchange was full of understandings and, and what else ? Well life... Life...

I kind of liked the use of black and white, it kept me focused on the "action".

This nice little movie is like a novel to read away from home. I guess a 5.1 surround mix should have given more depth, too bad.
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1/10
Ahhhh....!!!
akira-hideyo16 July 2022
Goodness. Yakily, Yakily, Yak and more whiny Yak Yak Yak. Drama in drama out. If I were Marcos, I would have had dashed out of that yin energy vampire black hole within 5 mins of encounter and checked into the YWCA instead for a more authentic butch environment. I felt drained just watching for 30 mins and then decided I'll FFWD this Woody Allen masterpiece to its end while I pound in this review.
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8/10
A Pleasant Surprise 👍
mr_travel11 January 2022
The conversations the 2 protagonists (around 40 - 45 minutes) raise the script above an amateur level.

Plus all the actors are convincing in their characters's portrayals. 👌 Filmed in a crisp/focused B & W adds an effective atmosphere to the story.
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1/10
I Am Surprised
anohso12118 May 2020
I am surprised I actually made it past 22 minutes. This movie is more tiring than a walk to nowhere. The choice to use black and white over color sparked my interest, but the failure to add intriguing details or at least interesting dialogues ended up making a colorless film more dull. 22 minutes in and I there was nothing to ignite some energy or to give you a sense of where the writer wants to take you. David Moragas would have done better had he filmed a day in the life of a stray cat. I wish him better luck on his next project.
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1/10
God Awful Lead Character
kellybeaverton13 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
WHY was this movie even made?

It suffers from the "Bros" phenomenon. The entire movie fails because of the casting of the central character. He is a "dark hole" that literally sucks all the energy out of the entire film. Being whiney and annoying may be suitable traits for the "quirky best friend", but certainly not for a central character.

The premise of the whole film is so preposterious that it should never have been made. A storm grounds all the flights into New York. Yet, throughout the film there are blue skies and absolutrly no evidemce of a raging storm.

Sadly, Amazon Prime has chosen to air this stale little pile. Rather than support talented gay film makers, they promote this nonsense.

Even by the modest standards set by the gay film genre, this film fails. There is absolugrly no reason for anyone to waste their time watching this.
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1/10
Low budget rubbish
qui_j29 May 2022
This film is done in black and white, and features many shots of peoples necks and the back of their heads. It tries to be an art house type film but ends up just a boring bit of unwatchable rubbish!
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2/10
Bad dialogs cute actors
hqxzdjjyz3 February 2022
The plot is a good one but the dialog was beyond terrible.. handsome actors. I wish the story was better told. Alan always trying to argue and the transition of topics are horrible.
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2/10
Lifeless, sexless
victor_ugo15 May 2020
Terrible. If this wasn't well tied up and technically correct, I would rate it 0 stars. Also, I love the tall bottom and short top dynamic lol! Spoiler: The garment cliché is alive in this sexless movie!
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2/10
Will the editor please rise?
daveny914-99-70472515 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A terrible case of trying too hard.

It's black & white. Fine.

It has more unnaturally-crafted awkward/uncomfortable moments than Borat.

The riveting Wi-Fi password writing & creepy sleep-watching scenes were reeeeal steering wheel-jerkers.

And... we get it. Alan has anxiety. WE. GET. IT.

Seems somewhat agoraphobic as well but with the insistent dialogue, one can't even gain an ounce of empathy for the character.

The only kudos I could give this "What Ever Happened to Auntie Mame" was the scene where Marcos talks Alan down from a panic attack.

The verbal queues mimicking intimate "dirty talk" WERE a smart metaphor for any sex scenes usually in one of these films.

For that, credit due!
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3/10
pretty pointless
joenoremitunes30 November 2023
One of those hypocritical, self-righteous queens in nyc meets a not very charming spanish guy and presumes to lecture him and pretend to be "therapist". I mean, what's the point? The whole thing was pretty wretched and time-waste-y.

Ok, that was all i really had to say, but i'm required to inflate my review into six hundred characters, so.....

alan, the self-righteous and prudish queen aforementioned, lives in a flat in nyc apparently, has no food in the empty house, has a boyfriend who is ashamed of him, and yet presumes to pontificate about how heteronormative the world around him is. I find myself taking marcos's side, even though he's kind of a douche himself too.
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9/10
Deep and heartbreaking
apollon-1726223 August 2021
Deep and heartbreaking. I loved everything about this movie. The acting, the dialogs etc. Especially the fact that it was filmed in black and white, something that projects the overall feeling of the movie. I would totally recommend it.
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9/10
Different sides of the same coin.
larimer-873015 December 2023
I enjoyed the film immensely. The characters are introduced as polar opposites - one against the idea of monogamous relationships and the other a staunch defender. As the film progresses each of their stances is subtly but decidedly influenced by the other. A seed of doubt is planted and they question the absoluteness of their original beliefs. It was touching and brilliantly underplayed. The splendid use of black and white photography underscores their evolution. If you are not sure about seeing the film, I encourage you to read the other positive reviews and hopefully you will enjoy A Stormy Night film as much as I did.
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