We had hope that Andrea Bang could find a good role after Kim's Convenience. She had a small role in a wonderful Canadian film, Adventures in Public School (2017).
Stay the Night presents Bang, as Grace, a shy, reserved young woman who just passed up for a promotion at work because she is shy and reserved. Her roommate Joni (Humberly González), who is a lot more fun, encourages Grace to go out to a bar.
On a separate tangent, Carter (Joe Scarpellino) is playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs. Except Coach Matthews (Graham Abbey) is telling Carter he is being put on waivers. Carter doesn't want to go to Syracuse (minors) and has anxiety over not knowing where he is going.
This has the makings of a bad rom-com in the wrong hands, likely American hands. 2 strangers, each of whom is having a rough time career-wise. Fortunately, Stay the Night is in Canada where the film takes us on a more realistic journey.
Grace reveals something personally awkward. Carter pretends he is in sales. They learn more about each other as the evening progresses. The film is more of a story about 2 people looking out for each other even as they are summing each other up potentially romantically.
The limited time period of the film, fewer than 24 hours, gives the experience a flexibility to delve into the primary characters.
One of the marvelous jokes in the film is the women have no idea who Carter is, while the male characters, including Roshan (Raymond Ablack), Grace's secret crush at work, know Carter. Carter is not a star and doesn't play in Toronto yet he is easily recognizable off the ice.
Many movies shoot in Toronto. Downtown Toronto is truly a co-star in Stay the Night. Writer/director Renuka Jeyapalan has a great sense of space from a fancy hotel to back alleys to the downtown airport. Picking an easy address (27 Crawford) and showing us the cross street of King Street to give a sense of where Grace lives is a wonderful move.
The film is dimly lit, which makes sense given most of the film takes places at night. This is only relevant given how people watch films at home, often with a laptop. You have to listen and try to see in some scenes.
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Andrea Bang is perfectly cast as Grace. You wonder if Jeyapalan wrote the part with Bang in mind. You feel Grace's awkwardness profoundly in the film.
The chemistry between Bang and Scarpellino is not so great in the beginning. Movies shoot out of order so actors have to remember where they are in the plot, going from okay chemistry to better chemistry. Jeyapalan keeps them on point throughout the film.
This is especially important because the film has very few characters with relatively minor roles.
Stay the Night is a film to pick if you want a film with romance but not over the top, where 2 people get to understand each other in a single night. and a film that makes you what to come to the actual Toronto.
Stay the Night has pending nominations for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards. The film is available on Crave in Canada.
video credit: YouTube/Freestyle Digital Media
photo credit: Stay the Night
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