They're hustlers: Omer (Alpha Omer Cissé) from Mali and Carine (Sylvaine Faligant) from France. But they're not a couple, at least not at first. They hang around lonely, seedy bars, provoking unsuspecting patrons and then challenging them to a game of pool. Like Dieter (Thorsten Merten), who first hits on Carine and then gets fleeced by Omer. The two have already earned ten thousand euros, enough to open the small beach bar in the south of France Carine has her eye on. But Omer wants more. His plan in Berlin is to challenge the Sultan (Yotam Ishay), a notorious gambler, to an all-night showdown. When he proves harder to beat than expected, the two go their separate ways, but inevitably - or fatefully - their paths cross again. One last game, one last big payday. Omer already has a plan, and it casts Carine in the leading role. The key: "Trust me, then I'll trust you." First pretending to be an amateur, letting your opponent win, then raising the stakes and taking his money, that's Omer and Carine's hustle. But what happens when the constant deception, the constant uncertainty about whether your opponent is telling the truth or lying, becomes second nature, when you no longer know where you stand? NIGHT TO BE GONE plays expertly with that question, allowing Omer and Carine to finally become a couple after a long separation, only to confront them with the eternal mistrust that they themselves have practically made their profession. Carine's fierce independence as well as Omer's pride and jealousy become obstacles to their performance as a team, and to them finally winning a way out. The fact that a black man and a white woman also meet here makes the conflict even more timely, without it ever being overplayed. Shot in atmospheric black and white photography that sometimes recalls the covers of old jazz albums from the 1940s and 1950s, NIGHT TO BE GONE is a subtly observed study of the dialectic between storytelling and mistrust.
Crime, Drama
1h 31min
16+
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In the heart of Berlin, a film noir billiard thriller unfolds with deceit, ambition, and suspense.
They're hustlers: Omer (Alpha Omer Cissé) from Mali and Carine (Sylvaine Faligant) from France. But they're not a couple, at least not at first. They hang around lonely, seedy bars, provoking unsuspecting patrons and then challenging them to a game of pool. Like Dieter (Thorsten Merten), who first hits on Carine and then gets fleeced by Omer.
The two have already earned ten thousand euros, enough to open the small beach bar in the south of France Carine has her eye on. But Omer wants more. His plan in Berlin is to challenge the Sultan (Yotam Ishay), a notorious gambler, to an all-night showdown. When he proves harder to beat than expected, the two go their separate ways, but inevitably - or fatefully - their paths cross again. One last game, one last big payday. Omer already has a plan, and it casts Carine in the leading role. The key: "Trust me, then I'll trust you."
First pretending to be an amateur, letting your opponent win, then raising the stakes and taking his money, that's Omer and Carine's hustle. But what happens when the constant deception, the constant uncertainty about whether your opponent is telling the truth or lying, becomes second nature, when you no longer know where you stand? NIGHT TO BE GONE plays expertly with that question, allowing Omer and Carine to finally become a couple after a long separation, only to confront them with the eternal mistrust that they themselves have practically made their profession. Carine's fierce independence as well as Omer's pride and jealousy become obstacles to their performance as a team, and to them finally winning a way out. The fact that a black man and a white woman also meet here makes the conflict even more timely, without it ever being overplayed.
Shot in atmospheric black and white photography that sometimes recalls the covers of old jazz albums from the 1940s and 1950s, NIGHT TO BE GONE is a subtly observed study of the dialectic between storytelling and mistrust.