The Sunlit Night

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2:45

The Sunlit Night

2020

1h 49m

Romance

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

31%

Tomatometer

58 Reviews

64%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

An aspiring painter meets eccentric locals and a fellow New Yorker while working on a barn in Norway.

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Critics Consensus

Jenny Slate remains as charming as ever, but her winsome performance isn't enough to overcome The Sunlit Night's grating tone and meandering plot.

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Alissa Wilkinson

Vox

Aug 4, 2020

There's enough charm and whimsy for the story to escape coming across as too predictable... The Sunlit Night is a light and occasionally messy story of discovery, and Slate's performance anchors it all.

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Kristy Puchko

Crooked Marquee

Jul 24, 2020

The Sunlit Night is a ponderous, pretentious dud

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Chris Hewitt

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Jul 23, 2020

3.5/4

I can easily imagine people who wouldn't like it, but there is something beautiful about how perfectly it locates a feeling of confusion, ambivalence and grief.

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Daisy Leigh-Phippard

Screen Queens

Feb 21, 2022

Too many threads tangle together without forming a pattern, and while there are flickers of feeling scattered through, its a shame that these lovely fragments of life never make up a whole.

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Deborah Krieger

Bust Magazine

Jul 2, 2021

It does feature an appealing lead performance from Slate, and is earnest and honest in its largely successful attempt to translate creative thinking onto the screen in equally creative ways.

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Susan Kamyab

This Chix Flix

Jun 24, 2021

F

Slate does a fantastic job with the material she is given and the scenery is beautiful, but the "The Sunlit Night" fails to shine. It's a dim, dull tale.

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Michael B

@RT01133297 Aug 15, 2025

I can’t believe how poorly this was rated. I watched in mid 2025. It is a sweet, somewhat formulaic film, but I liked it. It is a sweet message about art, and life, and family, and complexity. It has a handful of beautiful moments. It leaves a lot unanswered. I really enjoyed it.

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Alan R.

@Aremde Aug 13, 2025

Much better than indicated the rating. This is an excellent movie, full of life and subtlety as well as beautiful images and great acting. Just don’t expect an obvious linear plot which this movie does not have. It’s much better than that.

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Reagan R

@ReddRover Jul 25, 2025

The best way to appreciate art is to absorb it and see if it moves you. This movie moved me

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Barbie M

@RT30512723 Mar 21, 2025

I was surprised to see the low rating here. It didn’t seem justified. The one critique I would give it: the nudity was a distraction from the beauty of the film, for me, it felt exploitive, then garish, then off-topic. Otherwise the film was visually compelling, uncluttered, original, curious, comical, tender, of course artful, and ultimately very satisfying. It was directly and subtly about making something glorious, why it’s worth it, and where the drive comes from—this is so hopeful—and why I watch movies, to see a little divinity inside an experience that resonates, even if the details have little to do with my own experiences, yet are woven with familiar threads, the ridiculous, the heartbreaking, the miraculous, a desire for things to be whole, to be refined, to be joyfully hopeful, to snatch us out of darkness.

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Erin M

@RT90498996 Dec 10, 2024

This was a very nice surprise! Came for Jenny Slate and Jessica Hecht, stayed for the unique story, nice performance by Alex Sharp and sweet statements about family and art. I wonder about the "critics" sometimes.

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K B

@RT01843601 Mar 4, 2024

I absolutely loved this movie. What a wonderful combination of life in this movie!!!!

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David Wnendt

Director

Jenny Slate

Frances

Zach Galifianakis

Haldor

Alex Sharp

Yasha

Gillian Anderson

Olyana

Dan Puck

Robert

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The Sunlit Night: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

An aspiring painter meets eccentric locals and a fellow New Yorker while working on a barn in Norway.

Director: David Wnendt
Producer: Michael B. Clark, Rebecca Dinerstein, Fabian Gasmia, Jenny Slate, Gabrielle Nadig, Ruben Thorkildsen, Alex Turtletaub
Screenwriter: Rebecca Dinerstein
Distributor: Quiver Distribution
Production Co: Detailfilm, Ape&Bjørn AS
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 17, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 17, 2020
Runtime: 1h 49m

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