A title I can somewhat relate to, since I have in fact spent many a night with a man named Nathan. I’m not sure how many, but he keeps track better than I do. Not in the way you’d be thinking, btw. A Night with Nathan has been on a festival run since April and I finally got a chance to look at it, not at a festival but online.
It starts out with a man named Stan (Pete Comrie) who has just been locked out of his own home by his wife Bonnie (Natasha Maclean), who disapproves of him going out to drink all the time. However, Stan’s luck changes when he meets another lady named Cheryl (Diane Newling) during his marriage complications and they dance the night away followed by a round of the obvious aftermath at her place. He also learns of her son Nathan (Brent Baird) who has worked most of his life in a laundromat and has a hobby of making low-budget films. Cheryl doesn’t entirely approve of Nathan and his lifestyle, but it’s not like she’s much better buying lots of drinks for guys she meets at the bar, and having gone through 5 marriages. The next morning after Stan and Nathan have a chance encounter, suprising each other and Stan heads off trying constantly to fix his messed up marriage. Nathan finds Stan’s missing ID and tries to help returning it, but also ends up trying to help Stan with his marriage problems using overused terrible ideas to rekindle everything. Of course, they don’t work, but Nathan still is up to helping out Stan and buys him a drink at a local bar. Stan gives Nathan some advice on how to hook up with a woman and shortly after Nathan’s first failed attempt the two guys go looking around some more. Stan suggests a phone-sex woman, a prostitute, and even takes Nathan to his favourite bar. When all of those don’t work out, they follow two women to a laundromat. The two women Mercedes (Rafia Iqbal) and Jasmine (Marissa Rasmussen) invite the men to their place afterwards, and while Nathan is trying hard to get comfortable, it’s kind of difficult. This causes a rift between the two men and Stan considers calling it quits on mentoring since Nathan calls it quits on a woman who has an interest in him. Shortly after Stan confronts Nathan in a violent manner, Nathan confesses how a long-term trauma caused his shyness toward women and Stan goes back to being that one helpful friend who is willing to help Nathan. Their friendship strengthens there, and later on they have breakfast at a diner where they meet a lovely waitress named Samantha (Jacqueline Godbout). One wonders if Nathan will finally make it and if Stan is going to get things patched up himself now that he’s helped out his new friend.
A very heartfelt film that shows an interesting connection between two men, having an interesting amount of both similar and different personality traits at the same time. Taking place mostly at night for their journey, it showed a variety of locations and all of them were well-lit making it easy to see many great details. The interaction with many different characters made for a mix of both humourous and heartwarming. The whole thing was well-written, amazingly directed, and reminded me of my own personal interactions with a lot of people I know. I also have to give credit to Brent for not only directing and producing, but acting in it as well which I understand can be a burden at times. A Night with Nathan must’ve had one incredible festival run so far and who knows what it will lead to.
