C I N E B L O G 2 0 0 4 The NightOwls
of Coventry NightOwls is a storyed treat. Take a cutting-corners cafe owner who underpays his staff, short changes his customers, and hides from bills and food inspectors. Then throw in a crotchety group of older men who sit in that cafe every night, each wanting to focus the conversation on their own thoughts. Enter a neophyte to the city seeking to make a life on her own terms and you have a tongue-in-cheek enjoyable and warming film with a plot. Bad—drug scenes and roaches (the scurrying kind). Good—dialogue, wit and wisdom, audience connection to the cast, and the tempo—all makes for a very nice film. —W. Fred Crow |