Night Catches Us

Night Catches Us is a 2010 drama film directed and written by Tanya Hamilton and stars Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce and Novella Nelson.

Plot

In 1976 former Black Panther Marcus (Anthony Mackie), returns to his Philadelphia neighborhood to attend his father's funeral. Marcus has been away for several years, part of the time spent in prison on gun running charges and part spent wandering the country. Marcus has a reputation for having snitched on a fellow Panther which led to his death when the police tried to arrest him. Marcus' former friend DoRight (Jamie Hector), now a local gangster, and Marcus' brother Bostic (Tariq Trotter), a Black Muslim, are especially displeased by his return.

However, Patricia (Kerry Washington), the widow of the slain Panther, is more welcoming. She is now a lawyer and lives with her daughter Iris in the same house where her husband was killed. Her younger cousin Jimmy (Amari Cheatom) struggles to make a living with odd jobs, and begins to become more enamored of the Panthers after being harassed by the police. Increasingly hostile to the police, he becomes involved when some men sent by DoRight shoot out the back window of a police car.