The Vast of Night

For how much it professes its love of long takes and tracking shots, “The Vast of Night” is about (if anything) the cinematic power of sound. The few criticisms I’ve read against it claim it relies hard on monologues, but those talks are the point to such an appreciable degree that it’s actually refreshing when the images fades to black so we can more easily imagine the tale being spun by an interviewee without sacrificing the logic of the film. It’s a tribute to radio disguised as a feature-long homage to classic sci-fi films, and hot damn is it spellbinding.

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