A Stormy Night *** (2020, Jacob Perkins, David Moragas, Jordan Geiger) – Classic Movie Review 13,664

The 2020 romantic drama A Stormy Night stars Jacob Perkins and David Moragas as gay complete strangers who find themselves sharing an apartment overnight, questioning their takes on love, life and happiness.

Writer/ director David Moragas’s 2020 romantic drama A Stormy Night stars Jacob Perkins and David Moragas as gay complete strangers who find themselves sharing an apartment overnight, questioning their takes on love, life and happiness. A heavy storm threatens the city of New York, leading to the two strangers – a cynical documentary filmmaker from Spain and a local idealistic app programmer – sharing the apartment and their lifestories.

David Moragas stars as Marcos, a young cynical documentary filmmaker from Spain, who lands in New York only to find out his layover flight to San Francisco has been cancelled because of a heavy storm. He is going to San Francisco for the premiere of his documentary film about his several past lovers. Having nowhere to go and little money, he ends up in his friend Clara’s shared Brooklyn apartment with a complete stranger called Alan (Jacob Perkins), an idealistic app programmer. It’s a dark and stormy Friday, and Alan is very anxious, about the storm and about his work, and quite a bit about Marcos too, eventually a power cut causing him an anxiety attack. It tuns out that Alan has a long-term boyfriend Tristan (Jordan Geiger), who turns up briefly on his way to a family party that Alan can’t attend because Tristan hasn’t come out to his family. Alan believes in love and monogamy. Maybe he’s a bit of a scatterbrain, but he is a good person. Marcos is more of a free spirit, a totally free spirit. Marcos is attracted to the goodness in Alan, fascinated by it. Opposites attract, and these two men are opposites is many ways (Marcos can cook, for start, and Alan eats pot noodle and his boyfriend’s toast and butter), but they are very similar in others.

There are no false moves in this sweet, touching, quietly but intensely passionate romantic drama, in glorious black and white. The man to praise here is cinematographer Alfonso Herrera-Salcedo. Maybe the film could have pushed harder, but probably if it had it would have collapsed. It’s pretty near perfect as it is.

It’s basically a two-hander, and a talkathon, so it’s hard to make it work but actors Jacob Perkins and David Moragas and writer/ director David Moragas are up for the challenge. Moragas gives a lovely performance in his own film, but then so does Perkins, the actors sharing good chemistry. The screenplay is full of low-key wit and wisdom, and it’s very likeable. The script’s tension must be all about whether the boys are going to get it together, but then it turns out that’s not really what the film is about at all. The film is very romantic and honourable, putting love ahead of sex, and decency ahead of cynicism. That makes it very old fashioned, wrapped around in a veneer of Madrid/ New York cynicism.

Just 76 minutes: it really is a brief encounter.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,664

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