We Own the Night

Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) has turned his back on the family business. The popular manager of El Caribe, the legendary Russian-owned nightclub in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, he has changed his last name and concealed his connection to a long line of distinguished New York cops. For Bobby, every night is a party as he greets friends and customers or dances with his beautiful Puerto Rican girlfriend, Amada (Eva Mendes), in a haze of cigarette smoke and disco music.

But it’s 1988, and New York City’s drug trade is escalating. Bobby tries to keep a friendly distance from the Russian gangster who is operating out of his nightclub – a ganster that is being targeted by his brother, Joseph, an up-and-coming NYPD officer, and his father, Burt (Robert Duvall), the legendary deputy chief of police.

WE OWN THE NIGHT, an emotional crime drama about a man who has chosen to hide his past only to discover that he has to confront an inevitable future, takes its title from the motto of the 1980s-era NYPD street crimes unit. Written and directed by James Gray (The Yards, Little Odessa), the film was produced by Nick Wechsler, Marc Butan, Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix, and executive produced by Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban and Anthony Katagas.

“This is a film that is clearly rooted in a specific and familiar genre -- the police movie,” explains Gray. “But normally the police movie focuses on procedure -- finding the bad guy. I wanted to do something much more focused on character and emotion. The genre itself is essentially a point of departure to tell a story about a man caught by his destiny, his inevitable fate, and the complex and internally conflicted emotions that love, loss, and betrayal yield.”

“A man’s ability to change his own fate is much more limited than we would like to believe,” says Gray, the writer-director. “Other factors play a big role in life -- the flow of history, culture, external events, instinct and love. This is what I wanted explore.”

Also starring are Danny Hoch, Moni Moshonov, Tony Musante, Antoni Corone, and Alex Veadov. Collaborating with Gray behind the scenes were cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asav, editor John Axelrad, production designer Ford Wheeler and costume designer Michael Clancy.

Distributor: Golden Scene Company Limited

Release date: 17 Apr 2008

Category: IIB

Duration: 118mins

Cinemas:
1/ PALACE IFC
2/ BW Cinematheque
3/ AMC Pacific Place
4/ AMC Festival Walk
5/ The Grand