Eat The Night (French)

I am not much of a video game fan, but like me, if you were trying to avoid this film, because of that, STOP! This film is actually pretty decent. It is a compelling look at how a video game can provide not only entertainment, but a sense of community for those lacking it in their real lives. It's about the loss of love, safety, and human interaction. The video game is just the catalyst for it all, and it all actually ties in pretty good. I found myself liking the film.

Pablo and his sister Apo are very close siblings. They both have been playing a game called Darknoon, a fantasy role-playing game that has no real aim, but provides an alternative world in which you can create an ideal version of yourself, and run around fighting battles, slaying monsters and meeting other characters. But it is announced that Darknoon will soon shut down for good. While Pablo doesn't care much, she is devastated by the idea, especially since all her connections have been in the virtual world. Pablo is a drug dealer, who manufactures MDMA from an abandoned cottage in the countryside. One day, he is attacked by a rival dealer, and a young black man named Night helps him. Pablo invites Night to work with him, and teaches him how to press pills. The two soon form a romantic connection and between cooking drugs and selling them, both of them deeply fall in love with one another hoping that they can actually live a happy life together. Sadly, Apo feels neglected in all this. While things are going well, and their drug operation becomes more prolific, their rivalry with another dealer and his gang goes a bit out of control. They frame Pablo who gets arrested for 3 months. He asks Night to lay low and take care of Apo. Since she had almost shut him down, Night also joins Darknoon as an avatar and strike a friendship with Apo, so that he can take care of her. But rival gang soon find out about night and beat him up real bad. He is in hospital in coma. Pablo manages to hurt himself knowing this so that he can see Night and then eventually he runs away from hospital.

The contrast of the video game's virtual world and the real world is pretty significant. While the game provides good escapism with colorful natural surroundings, the real world is full of concrete buildings where hooligans are quite prominent. We never get to see what Apo's ambitions are besides the world of video game. Pablo and Night seem to be the only ones considering a better life, and talk of wanting to leave and find somewhere better, rather than "rotting" in this soulless place. This is one of the elements that makes their romance so intriguing. It goes from an arrangement of convenience to a genuine love story, and Pablo's drive for success ends up costing them dearly. I really liked how this love story grows. Night is a good man, with a strong sense of friendliness and familial love, and you so desperately want everything to work out for him. Even Apo eventually comes through. Her only real goal is to be there for the end of the game, along with her brother, but as his problems escalate, she is pulled away from that objective to be there for Pablo and Night. Her obsessiveness with her brother is a bit questionable, but that might be something to do with her world being just this video game. The movie doesn't condemn gaming. It's about how, even amid painful physical separation, the game offers her a means of communication with and comfort from those who care about her. It is an unusual but compelling story of how the real world and a cyber fantasy can eventually converge, and how the bridging of this gap can offer hope to the vulnerable. It ends on a tragic note, with Night beaten into a coma, Pablo on the run having gone on a vengeful spree, and Apo desperate for the comfort of her brother. A very interesting film for sure. (6.5/10)