Midnight Special

There is always more to Jeff Nichols’ movies than meets the eye. Be it the real-or-imagined storm that is brewing in Take Shelter (2011) or the many references to Huck Finn in Mud (2012), his films often thematically address the power of storytelling and the power of suspension of disbelief. The same is true for his sci-fi effort Midnight Rising (2016).

 

This convincing video essay by Digging Deeper makes that same case. It interprets Nichols’ movie as a feature-length comment on the state of current superhero blockbuster filmmaking in Hollywood. The essay offers a coherent reading of the whole movie in a classic, but also calm and clever way.