Arthur Penn's Night Moves is a complex, difficult film, but well worth the effort it takes to understand it. The plot starts off following detective Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) as he searches for an aging actress's missing daughter (Melanie Griffith). But this is not your typical thriller/crime film; instead it is an existential character study of a man dedicated to a job he's less than stellar at. Twists, turns, and murder abound, and the reason for it all goes way over our (and Harry's) head. We realize that much of the point of the movie is to show how consistently confused he is, how he never understands what's happening until it's too late. His misery, frustration, and anger at the end are all essential to understanding the character of Harry Moseby and the movie he inhabits. We learn of his motivations, his failures in life, and his small attempts at righting wrongs, and the acting by Hackman is spot-on. It is definitely one of his finest performances and easily one of my favorites.
The technical side is a similarly mixed bag. The dialogue was pristine. It was dark and rough and true; almost as neo-noir as Chinatown. The cinematography and editing were effective and efficient, which I liked, but not stand-out in any way. The music, the costuming, and the sets were all stuck in a bygone era that ages the film severely. And the fact remains that the movie IS confusing and frustrating. It takes a lot of outside effort to appreciate all that it has to offer. Be very wary of watching this movie if you don't know what you're getting into, as it can easily disappoint if it circumvents your expectations. But if you know what you're getting into, I highly recommend this complex character study.IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073453/