Set in Philadelphia’s summer of 1976, Night Catches Us opens with the sound of Jimmy Carter’s voice wending through an urban neighborhood, planting the usual, soft promises as it passes. His vow to give power back to the people is, I imagine, why first-time writer and director Tanya Hamilton pulled that particular clip from the teeming archives: It adds a layer of situational resonance to her story of the last days of the Black Panther movement, before that story even begins.
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REVIEW: For Better and Worse, Night Catches Us Lives a Little Too Much in the Past
