The Night Clerk (2020): A crime mystery with lots of heart

The Night Clerk, 2020, directed by Michael Cristofer, streamed on Paramount+, 2.5 stars.

This indie crime drama is watchable for the strong performances of its lead actors, Tye Sheridan and Ana de Armas. Unfortunately, it didn't stand much of a chance, getting a limited theatrical release right about the time Covid sent everyone scurrying for cover.

Sheridan plays Bart, a 23-year-old autistic who works the graveyard shift as a hotel clerk. He places hidden cameras in one of the rooms so he can study people in hopes that he can learn how to function in social settings. He gets into trouble when he sees an assault happening and ends up a murder suspect. 

The crime plot is fine, it's just kind of there moving along at a snail's pace in the background. The heart of this movie is Bart's character arc as navigates his predicament without admitting to the crime he did commit. De Armas enters the picture as a hotel guest who catches Bart's attention and tries to coax him out of his shell.

There's a lot of heart in the story that develops between those two characters and eventually converges with the overarching crime mystery. The mystery is OK as a plot device and makes sense in the end, but it isn't all that compelling in the shadow of the character story.

I enjoyed this enough to give it a marginal thumbs-up. It could have been better, it could have been worse. 

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