The Sunlit Night
Quiver Distribution | Release Date (Streaming): July 17, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The Film StageJared MobarakJul 14, 2020
You couldn’t ask for a better guide through the psychological landscape of her character’s desires than Slate. Her ability to be hilarious despite a quiet role like Frances lends an indelible charm that ensures we’re in her corner from the beginning. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmJul 17, 2020
What I enjoyed most about the film is how it illustrates the ways in which we view life through the prism of art in order to reach a deeper understanding of it. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 13, 2020
Whatever they edited out of The Sunlit Night, they made certain to keep the funny, sweet and sunny parts. And Slate makes the time pass like a late summer Green Flash — an enchanting moment or two or three, and gone. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekJul 17, 2020
Feels like three-quarters of a movie. It leaves you wanting some elusive soupçon of comedy or drama or romance that it just doesn’t deliver. Yet even within those parameters, there’s something appealingly human about it: It has the warmth of a tiny beach fire on a cool night, casting a soft glow that makes you want to creep closer; there’s wistfulness, at least, in its low-key quietude. Read full review
60
The New York TimesTeo BugbeeJul 16, 2020
This movie about artistic inspiration is meandering and slight, but, in a way, it provides evidence for why it’s helpful to cast actors with movie-star charisma. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 16, 2020
This is an artist’s coming-of-age story featuring a wonderful actress who’s unfortunately not right for the role; a shambling screenplay that has characters wandering in and out of the story as if in search of their own movie, and not one but two of the most off-putting patriarchal figures in recent memory. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubShannon MillerJul 15, 2020
Unfortunately, everything engaging about the narrative is overshadowed by gratuitous quirkiness. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeFeb 2, 2019
Slate and Sharp (a Tony winner for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) can't be blamed for their lack of chemistry, and if sparks aren't flying between them, at least viewers can occasionally drown in gorgeous coastal scenery, shot nicely by Martin Ahlgren. Read full review
50
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 2, 2019
At least there’s Slate, who gamely approaches her character with sensitivity and care (the actress also produced the project) and keeps Frances grounded even as The Sunlit Night sputters around her. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicShaena MontanariJul 16, 2020
It is hard to imagine that a Scandinavian-set comedy starring Jenny Slate would lack charisma, but unfortunately, the most interesting characters in The Sunlit Night are a yellow barn and the sprawling scenery of rural Norway. Read full review
40
Film ThreatMatthew PassantinoFeb 2, 2019
It’s easy to disappear into the setting of The Sunlit Night but if only the narrative were as involving. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 2, 2019
Here, Wnendt suppresses his naturally provocative streak to deliver an aggressively cute existential comedy instead. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 15, 2020
Taken as a whole, The Sunlit Night is fey and inconclusive, and whether something of more substance got cut in the post-Sundance re-edit or was never there to begin with is at this point moot. The movie’s up a most beautiful creek without a paddle. Read full review
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