I love and admire MIDNIGHT SPECIAL so much, I’m tempted not to talk about it at all. Instead, I’d rather just ask you to trust me, because I feel supremely confident that this title will end up on my Top 10 of 2016 list somewhere, and I want nothing more than to share it with you. If I could, I would literally take you by your stubborn hand, drag you to the nearest art house or multiplex playing it, and drop you in a comfy seat with some popcorn and watch it again with you. I suppose the Q&A screening I did for the film a few weeks ago (with writer-director Jeff Nichols and co-star Joel Edgerton) counts as a version of showing it to people, except those people didn’t pay to see it. I want you to spend your hard-earned money on a film worth every penny, one that you will treasure like a valued friend for going to see it.
On the surface, Midnight Special is a science fiction story about a young boy named Alton (Jaeden Lieberher from ST. VINCENT) who has special powers that are indescribable, mostly because something different seems to happen every time they manifest. The only constant seems to be that his eyes glow so bright and with such intensity that messages are sent into the minds of whomever he happens to be looking at. Alton has spent his childhood living in a Mormon-like religious community, led by elder Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard), who is so sure that the boy is a prophet that the entire structure and gospel of the community is rearranged around Alton’s schedule and messages. It’s eerie to think that an established religion could be so fluid, but therein lies part of Nichols’ commentary about organized spirituality.
When we actually meet Alton, he’s been taken out of the community by his father Roy (Nichols’ regular Michael Shannon, who also starred in the writer-director’s works SHOTGUN STORIES, TAKE SHELTER, and MUD), and it’s just in time because federal officials raid the compound looking for the boy. The investigation into Alton’s whereabouts and what he can do fall into the hands of an Agent Sevier (Adam Driver), whose distinctly French name gives me no choice but to assume that his eager, friendly and knowledgeable character is, in some part, based on Francois Truffaut’s character in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Meanwhile, Roy and Alton are accompanied by Roy’s childhood buddy Lucas (Joel Edgerton), whom Roy hasn’t seen since he moved into the compound as a child, but their bond is somehow strong, and Lucas is fine not asking questions.
Nichols is so precise and careful about how he unwraps his mysteries surrounding Dalton, and with each new scene we learn a bit more, and slowly the pieces start to come together, even if he doesn’t quite give us enough to answer the bigger questions until the last possible minute. The slowly mounting tension levels seem to peak when either the government gets close to our fugitives or members of the compound (Bill Camp and Scott Haze) do. We’re never quite sure which is worse, but we know that we don’t want either to get Alton. The boy’s gifts have lead Roy to believe that he needs to be in a very specific place at a very specific time and date, so all else is secondary to him. Their adventure brings them briefly back to Alton’s mother Sarah (Kirsten Dunst), and a clearer picture of how Alton’s parents figured into the goings on at the compound.
Although it plays as great science fiction, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is a family drama with scattered sci-fi elements. More specifically, this is an epic father-son adventure story that warms us to the idea that any parent would do the same for their kid, even if he might be an alien or a superhero or something else entirely. There is something wonderfully innocent about the film, and something deeply mature and emotional as well. Nichols doesn’t forget to have fun in the genre. Driver, in particular, is quite amusing in subtle ways, and every scene with him—especially one where he gets to interrogate Alton—is quite entertaining.
In the end, whatever Alton is and whatever his purpose might be ultimately doesn’t matter. It’s about a father and son spending time together before everything in their lives changes. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is captivating and thought-provoking, with a core of the magic that makes genre films so universally appealing. The film isn’t just great; it’s whole-heartedly enriching, dramatically satisfying, and a beauty to look at. It’s the complete cinematic package, people. So start lining up, and I’ll meet you there.
