'It Comes at Night' and More Trey Edward Shults

Trey Edward Shults is becoming a director that I can't get enough of. All three of us films relate to the personal tragedy of his father's death in some way shape or form. He uses filmmaking to cope with the complexities of his troubled past, which allows his characters to feel real and full of emotion. Shults' direction enables the actors to embrace the characters they play and alter the originally intended vision he had. At a shockingly young age of 32, Shults' filmography has already proven itself to be masterful, which is why I want to focus on his second film, 'It Comes at Night'.

'It Comes At Night' centers around the conflict of rejection versus acceptance. It reflects on themes of tribalism, isolationism, and paranoia to move the story and entice character motivation. But despite the marketing, it isn’t about a monster that comes at night, it's about the onset of fear and impulse that can drive people to drastic measures. An infectious plague has wiped out a majority of the population, food and water are scarce, and survivors barricade themselves against contamination from the sick and the survived. Paul (Joel Edgerton) and Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), with their 17-year-old son, Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), and a dog named Stanley have survived in an isolated cabin, which has turned into a fortress and sanctuary. After Sarah’s father (David Pendleton) dies of the infection, they cling to a strict set of rules that they hope will keep them safe.

Before long the family encounters a young man named Will (Christopher Abbott). Through much debate and distrust, Paul allows Will and his family - his wife Kim (Riley Keough) and their young son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner) - to be a part of their compound as long as they adhere to the rules and restrictions that Paul enforces. Needless to say, the visitors bring complications as well as companionship. There is sexual tension between Travis and Kim, and a masculine rivalry between Paul and Will. Mistrust simmers and occasionally breaks into the open. What happens is both shocking and inescapable.

Despite its horror movie label 'It Comes at Night' is more about the horrors and atrocities of human nature. How when pushed to the absolute brink of desperation the capabilities of a human being are unpredictable. This theme becomes frightening after the film is over when you sift through what you’ve seen and try to piece together what it may have meant. Travis, who suffers from nightmares, tries to do that and serves as the viewer’s surrogate. His perspective seems to be the only one we can trust, and he seems sensitive, decent, and innocent. The other characters involved aren't untrustworthy people, but when Paul introduces the concept of desperate people in a desperate time the movie's point of view switches to Travis'. These tonal shifts are what make up the film's greatness. The beginning is tense and bleak, followed by optimism and joy, and then concluded on one of the most depressing endings in recent memory.

What stands out in this film is the acting and direction. Joel Edgerton and Kelvin Harrison Jr. continue to cement themselves as actors that can play a wide range of emotions. While watching this film, the conversations and actions of the characters feel devoid of the script, which transports the viewer into the wretched world of the film. Shults shoots the movie to further amplify this effect and experience how characters feel and the power dynamic between them. Much like his other two films, Shults plays with the film's aspect ratio as it progresses. The higher the tensions the more closed the aspect ratio becomes. This is to heighten feelings of claustrophobia and anxiety when the scene becomes more and more unpredictable. I want to see more directors use this since it is a fairly new technique in film, but, I do like how the technique is exclusive to Shults.

Although I, and critics, hold this film in high regard, the average viewer had a lot of disdain for the finished product. Unfortunately, 'It Comes at Night' marketed incorrectly as a monster movie where a family follows a set of rules to avoid a presumed monster that comes out at night and infects them with some sort of virus. From the information I've shared, you can see the marketing has little to no connection with the actual ideas presented in the film. As a cinephile who loves and respects the work of Shults, the fact that this happened drives me through the roof. Since each of Shults' films are extensions of himself, the misconstrued expectation of the film upset him too.

"Yeah, there are going to be people who want a monster to come at night. They’re not going to like this movie, and that's fine. You never want to make something to piss people off. That’s the last intention ever, especially when you put your heart and soul into something, and you believe it, and you care about it deeply. What I’ve come to, how I feel right now is, I think the movie is going to get out there, way more than something like Krisha did, more than the film could have in a different circumstance. And the important thing is that it reaches the people it’s meant to reach. Whether some love it or hate it, oh well. I wanted it to reach people it’s meant to reach, so they can connect with it. I’ve seen movies I didn’t love the first time, and then they come back to me, and that’s interesting too. So I don’t know. It’s weird being on my side, seeing the marketing come together. It’s a bizarre thing to be on this side of the chair. It’s interesting. We’ll see." (Trey Edward Shults)

I know from personal research that Shults wrote 'It Comes at Night' in 3 DAYS after his father's death. While writing the screenplay he discusses how it wasn't intended to reflect on his personal life, but when he took a step back he realized plenty of similarities between his life and his film. This line between real life and fiction is what fascinates me about Shults. In each of his movies, they act as a form of self-therapy to amend the grief left by his father. He combines life experiences, personal studies, and a conventional narrative structure that builds an immaculate, powerful story. I hope that while watching any of his three films you can recognize what fictional aspects aren't so fictional. Shults is becoming a favorite director of mine and I can't wait to see his work grow and flourish. Let me know if you've seen this film, or any of his films, in the comments below.

USED LOOSELY FOR SYNOPSISScott, A. (2017, June 08). Review: In 'It comes at NIGHT,' a house full of guns and Family Desperation. Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/movies/it-comes-at-night-review.html