Night Lights Review

Night Lights is a 2021 short film written and directed by Johanan Eugene.

At the core of it all Night Lights is a film about rediscovering what was once lost, finding a piece of yourself that has been buried down for far too long. It is a beautiful and powerful message told silently.

What is striking about the story told in this short is actually how little of it in fact is told here. There is so much to be implied but it is so strongly conveyed that it transcends a need for any spoken word at all.

It begins overtly masculine as our lead man tells his girlfriend not to spend time with another gentleman, leading her to walk away. He is cursing, flexing his muscles so to speak. However, he comes across a group of women dancing under what seems to be an omnipotent spotlight from the moon gazing down on them. He joins in this dance, transporting the audience to a much more feminine tone.

This mix of gender normative roles culminates in a man who truly rediscovers his more feminine respects, this rediscovery of empathy. What at first appears to be a man gazing at these women as just mere objects becomes a unified dance where he is completely in sync with their movements. It is a touching tribute to finding a sense of balance within your own core.

All of this is to be said without even touching into the incredible score that resonates throughout the piece or the striking black and white cinematography by Eugene himself. The visuals are crisp and clean with a strong sense of clarity in the piece.

This is a poetic film that in one sense brings to mind the film Waves and the series Euphoria while even having some slight nodes albeit on a surface level to the music video for Back to You by Selena Gomez. Although that last bit may just be a touch of personal bias on my part.

In any case this is a gorgeous short film that has a lot of spirit and heart to it. It is one worth a watch that packs a lot of emotional weight behind it. This being the second short film I have sat down to from Johanan Eugene, I can see that he has a lot of talent and is able to sift between different filmmaking genres with ease.

To follow on social media: Vimeo and Instagram.

Cheers!

Daniel Hess

For more reviews and content stick with To Tony Productions and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to stay up to date!