Here’s a terrible idea: To guarantee that a reluctant brother appear at a surprise party, have him kidnapped and taken there.
It could be the plot to some rambunctious comedy caper. But in Seth McTigue’s debut feature “Take the Night” it’s the basis of a dark thriller. The brothers in question are heirs to a successful Chinese importing firm and the kidnappers hired are criminals wise enough to know that the victim is, as one says “worth bank.”
That means stacks of gold bars and access to cryptocurrency millions. So the dark prank of a birthday kidnapping leads to a big heist.
There are brothers on that side of the equation as well. McTigue, who wrote, directed and produced, also stars as a hangdog veteran saddled with PTSD and lines like “War stays with you forever.” His brother (Brennan Keel Cook) is a slacker joker who is hard to take by his gang as he is by the audience.
In their high-money way, the Chinese brothers are supposed to have the same dynamic. The younger one, played with some intensity by Sam Song Li, was chosen to take over the company when their father died over the elder one (Roy Huang), who shows signs of irresponsibility — such as planning the birthday party kidnapping.
McTigue intercuts one group’s interactions with the other to further drive home the point that brotherhood is tricky in families of any household income level (or cultural background). And as rocky as the relationship can be, there is a bond that runs deep enough to take over when trouble kicks in.