SCREEN | Andrea Bang Wanders – 'Stay the Night' x VAFF 2022

"Just say yes to something for once."

Vancouver Asian Film Festival

Burnaby native and Kim's Convenience actress Andrea Bang stars in the Canadian romantic dramedy Stay the Night from writer/director Renuka Jeyapalan. Set and shot on the streets of Toronto, the film often feels like a contemporary riff on Richard Linklater's Before trilogy for our current age of dating apps and hookup culture.

When a work promotion falls through, Bang's very single, type-A Grace impulsively tries to shake things up by pursuing a one-night stand with another stranger, an on-the-outs professional hockey player (Joe Scarpellino) passing through town while waiting to be sent down to the minors, their chance meeting starts a long night of self-reflection and discovery. It's a fairly typical setup but Jeyapalan balances the usual rom-com-type expectations by leaning on the two leads' slow burn performances.

Bang is almost too good at playing the uptight workaholic as the film breathes when her character eases up a bit and lets loose by indulging Scarpellino's easygoing charms. It's a very casually inviting watch spending its ninety-minute runtime unconventionally wandering the night away.

Jeyapalan crafts a pleasing romance with enough interesting touches to hold our attention. If you are inclined for an all-in-one-night walk-and-talk film about two twentysomething singles, who both find themselves at personal and professional crossroads, then Stay the Night offers an enjoyable yet familiar vibe.

Stay the Night screened as the opening film of the 2022 Vancouver Asian Film Festival.


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