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Grade • A-
DVD •Director Kelly Reichardt builds the tension slowly, but with inexorable menace, in "Night Moves," a smart and chilling thriller.
Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are Oregon environmental activists who are about to cross over into eco-terrorism, as they buy a boat they intend to fill with explosives to blow up a hydroelectric dam. They enlist Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard), an ex-Marine who's living off the grid, to help carry out their plan.
The script, by Reichardt and Jon Raymond, digs into the details of the plot, then turns the focus on the psychological damage in its aftermath. Reichardt's minimalist style is to get uncomfortably close to her subjects, quietly revealing their weaknesses and motivations in a thoughtful yet powerful way. —
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