Endless Night (2015)

I wanted to but couldn't!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This movie is about the survival attempts of two women - Josephine Peary (wife of Robert Peary who claimed to reach the north pole) and Aleqasina (an Inuit mistress of Robert Peary).Both women wait for Robert to come back from the north pole while icebound in the cruel and cold weather of the Greenland. Aleqasina (called Allaka throughout the movie) has a small igloo of her own, while Josephine enjoys the comfort and warmth of the wooden cabin.The movie shows both women alone and not a single soul around. But in reality, Josephine stayed in the cabin with her little daughter Marie. Aleqasina was also not alone, she was with her son (fathered by Robert Peary). According to the letters written by Josephine Peary, Marie and that little boy often played together in the wooden cabin. When Aleqasina fell ill, Josephine helped her and finally Aleqasina got better.The movie shows that Aleqasina dies in the end with her little baby - she wanders away into the terrible cold, never to see the Sun again.But in reality, she lived for many more decades after Robert Peary claimed to reach the north pole in 1908. she gave birth to three more children, including one more son fathered by Robert Peary. She died in 1930's.Both Juliet Binoche and Rinko Kikuchi have performed their roles beautifully. But the story is not based on facts and leaves the viewer clueless as to what they are trying to show in this movie.*** 3 stars only for the acting.

In Arctic-set ¨Nobody Wants The Night¨, Oscar-winner Binoche (The English Patient) stars alongside Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) and Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim) . A profile-boosting slot as 2015's Berlinale opener that had uneven reviews . This is Isabel Coixet's portrait of an arduous mid-career expedition by American explorer Josephine Peary (Juliette Binoche) , she is on a quest to find her celebrated adventurer husband Robert Peary , a man who prefers glory and ice to the comforts of an upper-class home . Developing her dangerous adventures throughout white landscapes and her meeting with an Inuit called Allaka (Rinku Kikuchi) . Based on true events , it's set in 1908 Greenland where Josephine Peary appears attempting to carry out an expedition helped by Captain Spalding (Matt Salinger) and Bram Trevor (Gabriel Byrne). ¨Nobody Wants the Night¨ is about the relentless icy outdoors both separates and draws these two women : an upper-class American woman who during her search , she meets a savage young Inuit who is in love with , and pregnant by , the same man . Together during the long , tense wait for the man they both love , Robert Peary , the notorious North Pole conqueror , but both of whom love in such different ways . The English-language Arctic adventure is an exciting story of discovery , adventure , ambition , conquest and suffering . This thrilling film focuses on courageous women and greedy men who put anything at stake for love , desire and glory . "Nobody Wants the Night ," claims the title of Isabel Coixet , but we may well find themselves succumbing to slumber anyway , desert and frozen environments , adding a special complement , its quasi-feminist purview . The film results to be acceptable , though at some moments is dramatically pallid , boring and tiring . The picture relies heavily on the relationship between Juliette Binoche and Rinko Kikuchi , being burdened with a hokey romanticism . Duo protagonist gives magnificent performances such as Juliette Binoche as a proud , determined , naive middle-aged woman and Rinko Kikuchi as a young , but wise , brave , valiant and humble woman . The film is understood to have been "significantly" cut by the producers and now includes a voice-over narrated by the film's star Juliette Binoche . Despite the name presence of Juliette Binoche and Rinko Kikuchi — both ill cast and ill served by Miguel Barros' windy , cold as well as maudlin screenplay — it has been panned as a stodgier brand of Europudding , and , as lifeless as the frozen tundra on which it takes place . Few distribution deals have been announced on the drama , which has yet to get an international release after garnering mixed reviews in Berlin . However , it achieved a flop at box office . Sensitive as well as atmospheric musical score by Lucas Vidal , a young musician who has composed several successes such as ¨ The raven ¨, ¨Sleep tight¨ , ¨Fast and furious 6¨, ¨Mindscape¨, ¨Kidnapping Mr. Heineken¨, among others . Colorful cinematography by Jean-Claude Larrieu , Coixet's ordinary , filmed on location , as it was shot in Bulgaria , Norway and Spain . This internationally flavored Arctic opus picture was professional though slowly directed by Isabel Coixet , getting to create an impressive and perceptive portrait of two women in extreme circumstances and it was selected as the opening night movie at the International Berlin Festival . Isabel makes small , unflashy but memorable films , like ¨Those Who Love¨, "Elegy," "My Life Without Me," "The Secret Life Of Words," and more recently , "Learning To Drive," , ¨another me¨ , all of which have culled the filmmaker a small but devoted following .

I don't know whether the story was meant to be motivating or inspirational. Or maybe Coixet just wanted to portrait a strong woman. In any case, the film does not work. It feels sluggish with disconnected bits.Binoche might be a great actress, but as we know, good actress do not save bad directing/scripting. Just having cute dogs in a beautiful landscape is not too much stuff for a film.Putting Rinko Kikuchi (a Japanese) as an Inuik can only be seen as funny. It resembles the times past were they would paint a white guy red to cast him as native American.

NOBODY wants The Night, or Binoche Queen of the North. Original Spanish title "Nadie Quiere la Noche"The 65th Berlin Film Festival opened with two portraits of obsessed women in life threatening wasteland situations, Portrayed by international superstars, respectively Juliet Binoche in "Nobody Wants the Night" and Nicole Kidman in Werner Herzog's "Queen of the Desert". In the first Binoche portrays the wife of Commander Peary who was lost in the far north seeking to be the first man to reach the North Pole. His wife (an austere aging Binoche) sets out to find him defying all sorts of insanely threatening situations while her Eskimo team strongly advises against carrying on in the barren Arctic white desert where only polar bears are at home --what happens to her at the end of this harrowing trip through the Arctic wasteland I only found out later because, like many others in the audience, I felt compelled to leave long before her tedious ordeal was over. The walkouts from this opening night packed house crowd at the Friedrichstadt Palast started at around the thirty minute mark and soon became a steady flow. (Ps: After getting herself isolated somewhere in Greenland she was eventually saved by an Inuit-Eskimo woman played by a Japanese actress, and, oh yes, veteran Arctic guide Gabriel Byrne perished early on when the ice gave out under his feet... ) That was the festival opening film directed by Catalan femme director Isabel Coixet (pronounced Kwashet) a Berlin favorite and regular. NOT the best possible opening choice from an audience perspective, but fest director Dieter Kosslick has his own private priorities.Bottom line: Binoche looks great but doesn't cut the ice in this one. Give it three stars for the dogs and the scenery.