"Night Comes On" (2018)

The actress Jordana Spiro directed “Night Comes On” and wrote the script with Angelica Nwandu, a spoken-word poet and creator of the incisive gossip website The Shade Room.

Ms. Nwandu is also a graduate of the foster care system.

The result of their partnership is a film that balances penetrating clarity with compassion. Mirroring Angel’s dissociated gaze, Ms. Spiro’s camera sometimes wanders from her characters to fixate nakedly on families at rest or children at play. But when it comes to the sources of Angel’s pain, Ms. Spiro’s sharp-sighted scrutiny softens like eyes that have slipped — mercifully — out of focus. (New York Times Review by Teo Bugbee.)

Available through Netflix