This was the first film in which Eliza Dushku appeared, aged 12. She has since gone on to make 64 more films or series. The main star of the film is the compulsively watchable Juliette Lewis, who does a brilliant job of playing a 17 year-old girl who is a bit too wild for some tastes. The film is set in a suburb on Long Island, New York, in 1961. Eliza hero worships Juliette, who lives opposite. Every evening she has a view into her bedroom window across the street and she watches her dance around, put on lipstick, sing to herself, etc., and is entranced. Eliza longs to be grown up and just like Juliette. Eliza's parents know nothing of this, and when they later learn of it, they try to stop it. Eliza has never dared to speak to her idol, but that changes. Juliette's father suddenly dies and Juliette is accessible to the sympathetic little girl's approaches. They slowly become friends, and Eliza becomes entangled in helping Juliette carry on her relationship, against her mother's wishes, with a handsome boyfriend played by C. Thomas Howell. Many complications arise. The film was written and directed by Craig Bolotin. It could be described as 'harrowing but heart-warming', is written and directed with real sensitivity, and the choice of little girl was perfect. (It apparently took a search of five months to cast her.) This film is so delightful, many people will want to see it more than once.
Review of That Night
That Night
(1992)
A charming story of a child becoming entwined with the life of her heroine
29 April 2023