After Hours
After Hours

Movie spotlight

After Hours

1985
Movie
26 min
English

A sensitive portrayal of a young office worker who alleges sexual abuse by her employer. She loses her job as a result of her claims. This dramatised situation looks at the ways in which an employee can be victimised in an office environment without those around being aware of the situation.

Insights

IMDb7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes94%
Metacritic79/100
Google Users88%
Director: Martin ScorseseGenres: Comedy, Crime, Drama

Plot Summary

A mild-mannered word processor named Paul Hackett has a disastrous evening in New York City's SoHo district after a date goes terribly wrong. He gets entangled in a series of bizarre and increasingly dangerous encounters with eccentric characters, all while trying to get home. The night escalates into a surreal chase through the city's underbelly.

Critical Reception

After Hours was met with critical acclaim, praised for its dark humor, fast-paced narrative, and Scorsese's distinctive directorial style. Critics lauded the film's inventive visual gags and its ability to capture a sense of urban anxiety and Kafkaesque absurdity, though some found its tone to be bleak. It is considered by many to be one of Scorsese's most underrated films.

What Reviewers Say

  • Praised for its inventive and relentlessly paced black comedy.

  • Martin Scorsese's unique directorial vision shines through its surreal and anxiety-inducing portrayal of a night gone wrong.

  • Griffin Dunne's performance as the increasingly desperate protagonist is a highlight.

Google audience: Audiences generally loved the film's unique blend of comedy and tension, appreciating its surreal narrative and the thrilling, chaotic journey of the protagonist through a bizarre night.

Fun Fact

Martin Scorsese reportedly shot the film in sequence, meaning the actors experienced the events of the story in the same order they occurred on screen, which helped build the escalating sense of panic and disorientation.

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