Night Moves

When admirable aims lead to disastrous deeds, does the intention or the aftermath win out? Writer/director Kelly Reichardt probes this quandary in Night Moves, an eco-activist parable brimming with the simmering tension of '70s psychological dramas, including the Arthur Penn neo-noir that inspired its title.Fringe-dwelling farmhand Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), his high school dropout girlfriend Dena (Dakota Fanning) and their ex-marine mentor Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) plan an attack on a hydroelectric dam in Portland to protest the environmental devastation in their midst, but they are sidelined by the unforeseen consequences of their actions.