I listen to a lot of podcasts every week covering pop culture & film, and I’ll never forget hearing the professional drag queen Katya saying on her podcast, “You have to take the wins when you can with Netflix, because a lot of crap has been churned out from that turd factory.” I’m heavily paraphrasing that quote by the way. And although I agree with Katya’s statement, I think I found Netflix’s most recent win in the film, "Night Always Comes."
This social realism picture is adapted from the 2021 novel, “The Night Always Comes” by American author Willy Vlautin. Actress Vanessa Kirby ("The Fantastic Four: First Steps," 2025) plays Lynnette, a woman at the end of her rope struggling to avoid eviction from her family home on the rough streets of Portland, OR where she lives with her unreliable mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Woman in the Window," 2021) and her older brother with Down syndrome (Zack Gottsagen, "The Peanut Butter Falcon," 2019). When the $25,000 down payment for their home loan evaporates, Lynette is forced to find the money herself, in one night, before the loan officer’s deadline.
As the night unfolds, Lynette revisits old friends asking for financial help. When no help is given, she starts stealing, and I’m not just talking about stacks of cash. "Night Always Comes" is a tense crime drama that feels raw and realistic, because it’s also a painfully topical commentary on real-life economic inequality. Marked by various timestamps as the night turns into early morning, the narrative is a desperate journey to various characters of the underworld both rich and poor. And as Lynette gets more desperate, her journey gets more perilous.
Vanessa Kirby is a graceful actress who gives emotional force and a pristine restraint in her best performances like "Pieces of a Woman" (2020), "Italian Studies" (2021), and most popularly the first two seasons of the drama series "The Crown" (2016-2017). She gives this same force and restraint in "Night Always Comes" as a disadvantaged woman fighting to secure some stability for herself and her family. But her physical beauty gets distracting.
Playing a woman who attends school, has two working class jobs, avoids constant calls from debt collectors, tries to keep her crumbling house upright, and takes care of her brother with Down syndrome should look tired and worn. Vanessa Kirby looks a little too put-together, too pretty, so she doesn’t quite appear as lived-in as she could. But her quiet determination in this performance makes her outbursts of violence surprising, jarring, and even a little invigorating.
At one hour and 48 minutes long, I was pleasantly surprised with this watch. Its authenticity is dark and convincing without trying too hard, and the dialogue feels mostly attentive and honest. On Lynette’s search for cash, she revisits parts of her damaging past revealing painful memories of homelessness and exploitation. Including bits of Lynette’s past makes "Night Always Comes" more than just an urban thriller, it’s also a thoughtful peek into a woman’s tragic identity.
This film’s mood feels like a daring tightrope walk, but it hits even harder when the film reveals much of our leading character’s life has been a tightrope walk. When poverty is weighing you down, and you have fewer and fewer choices, dangerous things will happen in the name of your survival. This film’s themes remind me of other recent commentaries on increasing wealth disparities like "99 Homes" (2014), "Good Time" (2017), and "Emily the Criminal" (2022). The recent comedy, "One of Them Days" (2025) also explores the money stresses of working class life but in a more relaxed fun-loving way. People like Lynette are trying to break the cycle of chaos and self-destruction, which makes this film both engaging and relatable to many viewers.
The ending bothered me trying too hard to be touching and lovable, especially when Vanessa Kirby does a softly spoken voice-over. But overall I thought, “Not bad,” for this entry in the Netflix library.
