Synopsis
After growing up during the tumultuous 1960s, ex-Black Panther Marcus returns to his home in Philadelphia in 1976 and reconnects with Pat, the widow of a Panther leader. Marcus befriends Pat's young daughter and attempts to conquer his demons. Interfering with Marcus's good intentions are the neighborhood's continuing racial and social conflicts, as well as old enemies and friends -- both with scores to settle.
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Cast
- Anthony MackieMarcus Washington
- Kerry WashingtonPatricia Wilson
- Wendell PierceDavid Gordon
- Jamie Hector'DoRight' Miller
- Kevin C. WallsPolice Officer
- Tariq TrotterBostic Washington
- Amari CheatomJimmy Dixon
- Nakia DillardT.T
- Ron SimonsCarey Ford
- Thomas RoyOld Man Harrison
Recommendations
- 83
Entertainment Weekly
Writer-director Tanya Hamilton's intellectually ambitious debut drama Night Catches Us is all the more notable for setting well-drawn fictional characters in a fraught, real moment in civil rights history. - 80
Boxoffice Magazine
This intelligent, emotional drama should resonate strongly with fans of character-driven stories and those interested in tales of American political struggle. - 80
The New York Times
Ms. Hamilton tells a modest, complex story with admirable clarity and nuance. That her film is so quiet, so evidently invested in contemplation rather than confrontation, gives it power as well as insight. - 75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Making a remarkable feature debut, Hamilton distinguishes herself more as a filmmaker than as a screenwriter. While she elicits smoldering performances from Mackie and Washington, the movie around them is rather diffuse. - 75
Rolling Stone
Hamilton manifests her vision of what politics can do to individual thinking with subtlety and sophistication. Remember her name. She's a genuine find. - 75
The A.V. Club
For Washington, the wounds of the past are just beneath the surface, as close as the bullet holes under her kitchen wallpaper. - 70
Movieline
Most successful are the scenes involving Marcus and Iris, a 10-year-old girl who grew up fatherless and watchful of her tumultuous surroundings. - 70
NPR
The movie evokes its time and place so potently that it almost doesn't matter that Hamilton's script proves unequal to her vision.
