Two men, each having a tough time, meet during one London evening and spend the night talking and learning about themselves in director Liam Calvert’s A Night Like This.
Both behind schedule
by Chris DrewA Night Like This
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
On a London evening near Christmas, Lukas (Jack Brett Anderson, Acceptable Damage) is seriously contemplating jumping off on a bridge.
A struggling gay actor, we learn he has been forced to make coffee and clean toilets with a further trauma (later revealed) leaving him feeling close to rock bottom.
Stepping away from the bridge, he goes for a drink and there encounters the gregarious guitar-carrying Oliver (Alexander Lincoln, In From The Side) who is hustling for a free pint with quite a routine.
Lukas is not then thrilled when soon after they meet again on the bus, and it’s revealed Oliver had a full wallet. Oliver apologies and initiates conversation before persuading Lukas to join him for a drink.
Initially wanting to leave after one quick drink, Lukas gradually warms up and starts to enjoy the company.
We know that club owner Oliver is struggling with debt and a complicated reaction to the death of his father a week earlier. His badly hurt hand is left a mystery, and indeed not acknowledged, until the third act.
The two concoct a plan to spend until 8am together, being completely authentic with no pressure to really get to know each other.
Walking and talking there are continued prophetic, and often pretentious, conversations about both everything and nothing which, after a while, dissolve into each other.
Inexplicably, a Liverpudlian teen Daniel (Jimmy Ericson, feature debut) they have just met joins them for a lot of the night despite stealing Oliver’s wallet at one point.
Seeking somewhere Oliver could perform, they find themselves at the final open night of a country bar. Spotting a reference to find your West Virginia, Oliver’s talks his way into the grizzled owner John (David Bradley, Another Year) allowing him to perform.
During Oliver’s performance, Lukas has harrowing flashbacks to being assaulted in a hotel room by a producer.
The film’s best scene comes at a silent disco. Both initially sceptical, with Oliver observing the concept originated to reduce noise complaints, they give into the joy of music, dance enthusiastically and then kiss.
The largely platonic connection – Oliver’s sexuality is not made explicit – between the characters is muddied. By the end they have at least formed a meaningful friendship to help each other recover.
It is a significant hurdle for a tightly focussed two-hander when one of the two characters is irritating and unfortunately this is the case with Lincoln’s Oliver. Other than one or two grace notes, as Oliver Lincoln is clownish and too over the top.
Thankfully, Anderson is more successful bringing soul and complexity to Lukas, although in reality one questions if he would want to spend time with Oliver.
Aspiring to be an LGBT London-set Before Sunrise, and sadly without the Kylie song of the title, A Night Like This neither has quite the magic or charm it aspires to.
A Night Like This premiered at the 2025 BFI Flare Festival.
