100 Nights of Hero

by Mike McGranaghan

You can tell that 100 Nights of Hero means a lot to director/co-writer Julia Jackman. Then again, you could tell The Room meant a lot to Tommy Wiseau and Glen or Glenda meant a lot to Ed Wood. This movie is nowhere near as awful as those pictures. It’s nowhere near as entertaining, either. Some very personal themes ring through a story that is extremely underdeveloped and frustratingly tame.

Set in a fantasy world with three moons, the plot revolves around Cherry (Maika Monroe), a young bride whose husband Jerome (Amir El-Masry) refuses to consummate the marriage. That poses a serious problem, as she’s facing outside pressure to produce an heir. Jerome and his womanizing house guest Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) begin debating martial fidelity, leading to a bet. Jerome believes Cherry is completely virtuous and would never cheat; Manfred thinks he can seduce her within 100 days. The game begins, as Cherry’s maid Hero (Emma Corrin) watches.

Why is the movie called 100 Nights of Hero when she seems so peripheral to the story? Well, Hero not only keeps an eye on Cherry’s safety, she also tells the tale of three rebellious sisters (one of whom is played by pop singer Charli XCX) who took on the patriarchy, and that story feeds directly into the main one. Oh, and there’s a third factor: Hero has sexual feelings for Cherry.

Right there is what the film seeks to do. Jackman wants to send a powerful feminist message while also telling a sweet queer love story. Both are admirable goals. Where she stumbles is in trying to weave these desires into a fantasy. At 90 minutes, there’s simply no time for the world-building needed to make a fantasy work. Although the sets are good, the use of colored lights and lens filters just make things look cheesy. A bigger budget was needed to pull off the effect.

Thin characterization drags the plot down, as well. Hero, Cherry, and the others are one-dimensional, so we quickly grow bored with them. Richard E. Grant and Felicity Jones, meanwhile, appear in one-scene cameos as, respectively, a “bird man” and an ethereal creature, yet neither is given sufficient screen time to register any reaction beyond being recognized by the audience. Hero keeps interrupting with her tale of the sisters, further weakening the movie’s flow with more characters who have no depth.

Maybe the biggest disappointment is that 100 Nights of Hero plays it too safe. There’s so much potential in the Cherry/Hero thread yet the film doesn’t bother to explore much of it. Why not emphasize what a threat she is to the ultra-masculine Jerome and Manfred? That would have made the tale scorching rather than shallow.

---