Shared Darkness

Journey to the End of the Night is a
gritty, passably persuasive, sin’s-underbelly crime thriller about an illegal narcotics deal gone
wrong. Two Americans living in exile, Rosso Sinatra (Scott Glenn) and his bitter
adult son Paul (Brendan Fraser), have spent the last several years carving out
a living in Brazil
running a nightclub-brothel, but the margins seem to be shrinking and each harbors
dreams of getting out of the business once and for all.

One night, it seems their prayers are answered when a
customer leaves behind a suitcase in the club that contains the means for Rosso
and Paul to change their collective fates. The potential end results make this eying
of a one-time drug deal seem lucrative. Rosso makes plans to take his beautiful
young wife, ex-prostitute Angie (Catalina Sandino Moreno, above left), to start over in a new
city far away, along with their 5-year-old child
together, Lazare. Paul, meanwhile, wants to escape mounting debts and an
escalating cocaine habit, as well as finally be rid of his father, whom he
despises and blames for almost all of his problems. The X-factor is his own involvement with Angie — yep, it’s
one of those types of relationships. Further
mixed up in all of this is Nigerian immigrant kitchen worker Webma (Mos Def, above right), who’s
recruited by Rosso to take the place of the original drug mule and navigate the
perilous, nocturnal gauntlet of Sao Paulo. But to whom will his allegiance ultimately
tilt?

Helmed by Manito
director Eric Eason, Journey to the End
of the Night benefits from its maker’s keen eye for sweaty travelogue detail
and mood. There’s actually a pinch of the same sort of world-weariness and
Spartan intrigue on display in Frasor’s own The
Quiet American, but this movie amps things up to a considerable degree, and
Frasor’s performance is a bit too loud, comparatively speaking. I didn’t really
buy into the overly dramatic father-son stakes in the film; it’s too hazily
pitched. The movie is otherwise nicely acted, though, and cinematographer Ulrich Burtin (Red Carpet) shoots an interesting frame. While the story is a familiar one, it’s these elements that hold one’s attention.

Delivered with a Dolby digital 5.1 audio track and in a
widescreen anamorphic presentation, the disc’s transfer impressively captures
the movie’s rather dim and dank visual palette — which is in and of itself an
outwardly manifested metaphor for the dangerous, loathsome and conflicted inner
workings of its characters. A simple making-of featurette is the only DVD
supplemental extra, providing EPK-type chats with actors and a handful of the
behind-the-scenes players, like Eason and Burtin. Previews for other First Look
DVD releases round things out. B- (Movie) B- (Disc)