With his debut feature, The Vast of Night, first-time director Andrew Patterson made me feel the way I felt the first time I saw Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Patterson’s movie isn’t as polished as Close Encounters. It’s much smaller in scale and resources. Patterson, who self-funded Vast of Night with money from his television commercial production company, made the movie on a micro-budget of $700,000 over four weeks. Still, there is a sense of awe and wonder to the picture that put me in mind of Close Encounters. It’s a stunning first effort.
