Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

eric262003 It's six in the evening an introverted young lady names Jessie Cates (Sissy Spacek) asks her mother Thelma (Anne Bancroft) where her father's where her father left his gun. Not feeling threatened by this young lady's strange request, Thelma tells her. Jessie is middle-aged person whose life has been in utter turmoil. Her husband abandoned her and drug addicted son has vanished, Jessie is now living back at her mother's house and things have been very settling until that particular evening. Thelma catches on later that the reason Jessie asked her for his gun is to lock herself into her room and to end her life after the night has cleared. Thelma stays strong and does everything she can to persuade her daughter into not committing such an act.Based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Marsha Norman, the theatrical integrity speaks volumes and due to being low budget, scenery and settings are frugally limited. Almost 90% of the film is situated in the small house but the scope of the film depends on dialogue and hopes that Jessie does not commit an act she might regret before it's too late, and to hope Thelma tries to help her from doing it. There are a few flaws in "'night Mother", but the performances are quite remarkable. Spacek is someone a person could relate to and her emotions are very real. Bancroft was just as wonderful as Thelma and her struggle to keep her daughter from suicide is purely heroic. The script by Miss Norman succeeds as she keeps her characters in fine tune and keeping it in their living quarters as the intensity manifests progresses when the mother and daughter move around. The body language is quite believable and very convincing. The cinematography by Stephen Katz can be a bit spontaneous at times that avoids making this film acceptable when really it should have been more restrained knowing as to what the social issues that is being dealt with. It may seem very frugal, but the meager score is actually very effective. The score is just a simple acoustic guitar demo from the beginning of the movie and when the film wraps up in the end. This is good because it does not overlap with the scintillating dialogue and the subliminal body language and it refrains itself from adding violins which would have ruined the atmosphere. It's actually very easy to follow as there are no confusing flashbacks or any jumping to scenes abruptly. It all happens in one period of time which is a distraction to the bad cinematography. The subject of suicide can be a really tough subject to handle and the controversy that goes with it can be quite overwhelming at times. This movie had a lot of things going for it, but the faults in this movie were very flabbergasting as well. The pacing was way too slow and I don't have a short attention span. The stage-to-screen formatting was poorly executed (could be because of limited budget). However, it is the acting from Spacek and Bancroft that is the real reason this movie does stand out.

mydadhasnohair A harrowing tale, Jessie Cates is an epileptic who is unable to drive or hold down a job and has decided that there is no reason to go on living anymore. She is quite serious in her intent but tells her mother that she is planning to kill herself before the night is over with. She then goes through the motions of labeling all of her belongings so that they may go to the appropriate person after she is gone.During this time Jessie gets things in order for her mother while her mother tries to convince her not to kill herself. This movie hits home with anyone who has ever seriously considered killing themselves or the people they leave behind. Excellent acting throughout as one would expect from these actors. At times the movie was humorous, emotional and very thought provoking. I swear I never cry about films but the ending just gripped me in a way only one movie has ever before, Grave of the Fireflies. The ending was so nerve wracking and tense, it will leave you thinking about the film for awhile after you see the film. This is a great film for anyone who is thinking about committing suicide as it gets you to thinking about the people and devastation you leave behind.

dennis This is a wonderful, upbeat portrayal of a person who has had enough of her life. She knows what she wants to do, and is not "wasting" her time moaning and groaning about things.Here is a woman who has had a pretty-darn miserable life. The more she shares about how things have gone with her mother, the more I can see why she is ready to move on to whatever her next existence is.Of course, her mother has benefited greatly from her daughter's existence here on earth. She has been able to get her needs met. So, mother-dear is not very happy to lose her "good thing." I just love the dead-pan way the daughter goes through her list of things to do, to ensure that mother is well-taken-care-of. This shows me what the rest of the daughter's life has been: Forget me, take care of others (those who know that they are MORE important than I am).All during the movie, I am cheering the Daughter on: GO, Go, go.And, I get a belly-ful of the mother, and her twisted relationship with her daughter. She deserves to be without a loving, dutiful daughter.This is a one-of-a-kind gem.

Diane Redman I have seen many drama movies in my lifetime so far, and this one is excellent. "Sissy Spacek", and "Anne Bancroft" both played their roles extremely well from beginning to end. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch a very good drama. I'm sure that it was hard to do this movie because of the subject being so dramatic, and tragic. I would love to see more drama movies like this one, and it would be great to see "Sissy Spacek" again. It doesn't have to be the same type of movie dealing with suicide but, it would be great to see her in a drama again. Another movie that she's done that I really like her in, and enjoy watching is "Carrie". She was very good in that one too. I would recommend that one also to anyone.