Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes :
Adapted for the screen from Bea Roberts’ multi-award-winning stage play, And Then Come the Nightjars tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a Devon farmer and the vet who is assigned to cull his precious herd.
Review:
And Then Comes the Nightjars is a poignant film about male bonding and how an event beyond their control damages that relationship and becomes an elegy for an admirable way of life.
Nightjars is a two hander based on a play by Bea Roberts and given a wistful treatment by debut director Paul Robinson . It’s an opening up that features the original stage cast of David Fielder and Nigel Hastings.
In British folklore Nightjars are harbingers of cattle death. Since Nightjars takes place during the 2001 British Hoof and Mouth disease crisis it becomes a symbol for the devastation and eventual repair to come to the bond between a veterinarian Jeffrey (Hastings) and a craggy cranky widower and cattle farmer Michael (Fielder).
Their relationship is profane and profound and entirely honest and without illusions. They self-correct, confess and pick each other up whenever a crisis hits. For Michael the slaughter of his prized cows robs him of everything he values and lives for. He sees it as a breaking of his bond with his vet friend. The repair , shown over years, eventually comes, and when the vets life falls apart into divorce, drink and failure Michael grudgingly returns the favor Jeffrey granted and gave to him. It’s a simple story told heart achingly well, with riveting emotional detail.
Roberts script shows how entwined everything is. The vet-small farmer echoes a way of life that has been going on for centuries and is now vanishing. Expanding it over the years shows how this effect families, communities, even seasons. This is an ecosystem that depends on every farm to work and be profitable, not only to keep the community together, but to survive the generations.
And Then Come the Nightjars gets a 3.5/5 or a B+. It’s streaming on Amazon Prime.
Credits:
- Genre: Drama
- Original Language: English
- Director: Paul Robinson
- Producer: Amy Gardner, Nigel Hastings
- Writer: Bea Roberts
- Release Date (Streaming): Oct 3, 2023
- Runtime: 1h 21m
- Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
- Production Co: Finite Films and TV
CAST & CREW
Jeff
Micheal
Leave a Reply