Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (out of 5): ****

Tanya Hamilton makes her feature writing and directing debut with the exceptional character study Night Catches Us; it veers perilously close to message mongering and smugness, but mostly does well to focus on some surprising character traits and fine period detail.

Anthony Mackie plays Marcus Washington, who suddenly returns home to 1976 Philadelphia after some mysterious time away, for his father's funeral. It's a rough-and-tumble time, with the remains of the Black Panther movement still evident in the streets. Marcus tries to fix up the family home in exchange for a place to sleep, but his brother wants nothing to do with him. Instead he ends up staying with an old flame, Patricia Wilson (Kerry Washington), a do-gooder with the habit of taking in stray souls.