One Night Stand

One Night(1997) ...aka One Night Stand(1996)... Nurse Chris

Plot synopsis: Julian plays the nurse to the best friend (Robert Downey, Jr.) of the lead character, played by Wesley Snipes. He's a married man having an affair with a married woman. Downey's character is a gay man dying of AIDS in the hospice where Julian's character works.

Review & Commentary: You'd think the story of a man who has a one night stand with a woman who's not his wife would have been so done-to-death that it couldn't be interesting. And if you were to judge this film by its (lack of) critical acclaim and financial success, you might be positive about that. You'd be wrong.
I came out of this film with two strong impressions: 1) that Wesley Snipes is a much better actor than I'd thought him to be, and 2) that Mike Figgis is probably one of the few directors in Hollywood who knows both how to best use Julian as an actor, and how to keep his looks from drawing so much attention that he can't play a supporting role effectively. I've never been a Wesley Snipes fan, but after watching him play this man who not only has a one night stand, but is also dealing with the death of his best friend from AIDS, I was rather impressed. He's completely believable in the role, and is another reason Figgis didn't have to worry about Julian upstaging his lead actors (Robert Downey, Jr. does an equally brilliant job as the dying man, but I expected it of him....).
Julian plays Chris, the nurse tending to Downey's character in the hospice. Nurse Chris concerned about his patientAt first, he seems only a practical secondary character, coming into Charlie's room to give him a bath. But we soon see him as something more than a set of hands tending to his duties: he's helping the doctor examine the sick man, holding him against his own chest to let her listen to his lungs, looking rather desperately concerned when she doesn't appear to like what she's hearing. You get the impression that not only is he a fine nurse, but he's a caring one, dedicated to his patient and caring deeply about him and his condition. He's sympathetic to the Snipes character, experiencing the same sense of loss when they've both acknowledged that Charlie is dying. He's both professional and expressive when Snipes gives him a gift in appreciation for his caring. And he manages a fine balance between grief and joy when he attends Charlie's New Orleans-style wake. Unfortunately, he's not in the film enough to make it worthwhile to see it just for Julian, but I found the film as a whole thoughtful and sensitive enough to make it well worth watching, especially with Julian in it.

3-1/2 stars

Availability: after a lengthy showing on pay-per-view television, One Night Stand was released on home video in 1998. It should be available for rental or purchase in most video stores.
Buy It on VHSBuy It on VHS. Buy It on VHSBuy It on VHS with Spanish subtitles. Buy It on DVDBuy It on DVD.

More images from the film

Media clips from the film: (Julian does not appear in these)