In his final film role, the versatile actor plays a writer trying to draft his own death.
Movie release dates are often delayed for a myriad of reasons, especially in these uncertain times, and in the case of “That Good Night” it’s a particularly bittersweet late arrival. This lovely and moving and witty British drama that was filmed in 2015 marked the final lead film role for Sir John Hurt, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in January of 2017 at the age of 77. That the versatile Mr. Hurt (“Midnight Express,” “Alien,” the “Harry Potter” films and we could go on and on) is playing a formidable creative artist who is dying of cancer in the film makes it all the more poignant. Based on a 1996 play by N.J. Crisp, “That Good Night” travels a very familiar road and we’re never in doubt as to where it will end, but thanks to director Eric Style’s beautiful shots of the wondrous locales in the Algarve in Portugal; a sharp screenplay by Charles Savage, and a suitably career-crowning performance by Hurt (with fine supporting work from the small ensemble cast), this is a lovely and old-fashioned character study with some sly humor and, of course, more than a couple of reach-for-the-tissues moments. Although “That Good Night” was made before the recently released “Blackbird,” it has echoes of that September release, which starred Susan Sarandon as a family matriarch with a terminal illness who has decided to end her life on her own terms.
