Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: CLOSING NIGHT [Toronto International Film Festival - Toronto, Ontario]

Finding the basis for a film like “Closing Night” [World Premiere/Special Presentations] usually has the aspect of familial connotations. Beyond that however is the context of human behavior but also the willingness to embrace it beyond any others. Director Cody Fern and his writing partner had worked on "American Horror Story" so effectively that when they came to tell this picture Sarah Paulson was the focus. Paulson takes unusual roles, many supporting, though in the aspect of leading she is very capable. Here she plus Sandra among a trilogy of ladies that all have faults but strengths too. Naomi Watts plays April, her seemingly long-suffering sister prone to anxiety attacks and bouts of kleptomania. Most of the conflict revolves around the plot device of April’s son Leo (Toby Wallace) who is navigating his own relationship with Odessa D’Azion (late of “Marty Supreme”). That said once a certain problem befalls Sandra it becomes more focused on Paulson. Sandra is complicated and yet driven, knows what she wants but ultimately can’t quite put her finger on exactly why. Watts balances Paulson as April as someone damaged early, As the film progresses we really do understand why. April stills works at the salon with their mother Diane (Dianne Weist in a fiercely dominant role). Diane may not be the best mother but she does enforce certain aspects according to her standards. There is no father or husband around and the aspect of Leo’s parentage also becomes central.

The script is smart is showing and allowing the audience to extrapolate that sometimes people simply don’t tell one another things especially the difficult ones. Sandra, so control of her life, starts losing control and the family she has gotten away from have their own flaws...and yet she still eventually has to re-engage. They don’t make it worse but they don’t make it easy. The material could be melodramatic but the three leads never let it play there because these actors know how to understand fallacies without placating them. Paulson acts like any other person would with a high level intelligence with something that takes away all possibilities over time. She takes a very specific road which people may understand but not quite accept. Watts’ April is more lost in certain ways though she herself made certain decisions. Watts can play lost people but here it is someone who could be functional but has impediments that her own brain has set up. Wiest is the most in control but also likely more stubborn than Sandra. And we see that disconnection even in a specific interaction at the airport when things need to be said but aren't. Fenn and his collaborators are very good at not spelling out what everyone will do or feel. In that way, this is very lifelike. As the progression makes their way through, the dialogue has its black levity which Paulson and especially Wiest excel at here. Watts carries more of the dread in certain ways though the final resolution for everyone is inherently messy but in a way life is too. “Closing Night” specifically address the context of control without losing the aspects that makes us human. The journey in the film is not for all but it is satisfying in its resoluteness despite the futility in certain ways of what it is facing. B+/86%

By Tim Wassberg