As well as its mellow walk-and-talk premise, the enduring magic of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise hinges its tightly constructed script and the singular chemistry between its two idiosyncratic leads. Like other film-makers inspired by this indie classic, Liam Calvert regrettably falls into the trap of focusing solely on the all-in-one-night conceit at the expense of other narrative components with his directorial debut.
A Night Like This follows Lukas and Oliver, two strangers who share a nocturnal adventure on Christmas Eve in London. Each is saddled with his own demons. Lukas (Jack Brett Anderson), a gay man from Germany, struggles with his acting career, while Oliver (Alexander Lincoln) juggles singing aspirations and a failing nightclub. Such life baggage ought to be the glue that binds these two lost souls together but this attempt at intimacy is built primarily through stilted, expository dialogue, riddled with cliches about failures and familial traumas.
