From the outset, we know that Night Nurse is going to be sleazy and trashy and it’s going to like it. Whether you do or not, only you can say, but the movie commits, and it has to be respected for that, at least.
Eleni is a new nurse at a retirement home, and she’s been assigned to an old man named Douglas who supposedly has dementia, although it’s unclear to us if he actually does or if he’s just incorrigible. Eleni was fired from her previous job, though we don’t know why, but she seems quiet and passive and a bit unsure about how to handle what she’s given. She’s partnered with Mona to assist the man, and Mona knows the ropes. Which is to say, she knows Douglas is actually pretty with it, and his sexual advances are part of the game, and, well, maybe she’s ok with that. Things get weirder when Douglas forces Eleni to make a phone call to another local man with dementia, pretending to be the new man’s granddaughter who’s been arrested and needs $10,000 to get out. Eleni turns out to be very good at this, and also turns out to like it quite a bit, and we move into a kind of psychosexual erotic thriller where things get more intense and complicated.
Now, I have to say, if something is going to be trashy, I want it to really go for it—I’m talking 1970s-era John Waters trashy. And this movie isn’t that. But director Georgia Bernstein keeps a tight hold on the film’s tone and sleaze level, and so even though it doesn’t reach the ridiculous heights I might prefer, I have to acknowledge it’s a smart move. This kind of thing can easily slip off the rails, but Bernstein knows what she wants and just how to get it.
Night Nurse is in theaters
