MIDNIGHT SPECIAL – Review by MaryAnn Johanson

There’s some very good storytelling advice that applies no matter what medium you’re telling your story in (film, novel, comic book, whatever): Jump into the action as late in the game as possible. And wow, did Jeff Nichols take that advice to a delicious extreme with Midnight Special. We are dumped right into the middle of what would be, in a more conventional movie, the third act — that is, the final sequence that is racing the story toward its resolution. There is no setup here because we don’t need it: we’ve seen enough stories like this one to guess at the rough outline, and Nichols has no interest in covering already well-trod ground or wasting time with details that are superfluous. Read more>>