"Midnight Clear" is a first feature by director Dallas Jenkins. It is an excellent piece about human relationships and personal isolation. Stephen Baldwin who was in "Fred Claus" has the lead. As the loser Lefty who has lost his family, his job & his home, he consoles himself with a bottle and thinks about ending it with a gun. Baldwin's performance is tightly controlled. It's so underplayed that it almost fails to appear. In the DVD extra, director Jenkins seems a bit star struck with an actor with as many credits as Baldwin; but it seems that Baldwin perhaps was a victim of lack of direction in the part. The rest of the supporting players are marvelous. Faline England plays Lefty's wife Heather in a couple brief cameos. Perhaps the strongest performance is by K Callan who appears to be doing her first work in 10 years in the film. Her first film was 1970's "Joe" followed by many credits including 1979's "The Onion Field." As Lefty's mother Eva, she is losing her health & her memory while her family has abandoned her. Her transformation when Lefty arrives on her doorstep is endearing. Victoria Jackson from TV's "Saturday Night Live" from 1986-1992 cameos as the meals on wheels lady who brings Eva food. Mary Thornton who was in an independent film titled "Solitude" in 2002 does an excellent job as Mary, a woman whose husband has suffered brain damage from a car accident, and who finds herself stranded at a filling station on New Year's Eve. Thornton's performance is incredibly layered as she works with grief, attempted bravery, and loneliness. Her son Jacob is played well by Dominic Scott Key who was in "Minority Report." They wind up at Mr. K's filling station played by Kirk B.R. Woller who was in Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers (Widescreen Edition) and 2003's version of "The Hulk." Playing a character named Kirk, Woller shows amazing sensitivity, loneliness and the ability to love when he helps Mary with her car on this Christmas Eve night. It's another stunning performance in the film. Mitchell Jarvis -- in the only film credit I could find for him -- plays the youth pastor Mitch who was Mary's husband's best friend and mourns his loss. Jarvis does an excellent job with the doubts that he can effectively serve God as he takes kids out for some passionless Christmas caroling. Richard Fancy who was in Shopgirl and "Being John Malcovich" plays the pastor Mark who keeps encouraging his young youth pastor. The film concludes appropriately for me as people show up in church searching for hope and finding it by being needed by others. This film won the "Best First Feature Film" award at San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival. It is well worth viewing. Enjoy!
July 28, 2008 |  | Midnight Clear - Wow a hidden Gem |  |
Great acting. You must stay with it all the way to the end.
It is slow but please to do not hit the stop button, I guarantee
you will enjoy this wonderful movie. PG-13
May 21, 2008I know that people will think that this is some religious movie pushing an agenda. It is definately NOT. Stephen Baldwin would have been nominated for an Oscar if this movie was perceived to be anything other than a "Born Again Christian" movie. That's too bad. It is anything but. It is a bleak, yet inspirational film about the end of hope, yet at the same time shows the beginning of hope, all without any "agenda" of any kind. Mr. Baldwin truly does give the performance of his career. Oh, and I am NOT a religious person. Please, rent it. And don't be ashamed to do so for fear of being labeled.
May 17, 2008"Midnight Clear" was directed by Dallas Jenkins, son of Jerry B Jenkins, who also produced and wrote the story the film is based on. I'm not a fan of Jenkins Sr and expected a rather preachy Christian film. I was wrong, almost.
Stephen Baldwin gives a suprisingly good performance as divorced, unemployed and homless Lefty, and K Callan is even better as the lonely widow Eve. The rest of the cast is a mixed bunch. The story is about loneliness and kindness and some scenes are very good, others weaker. The ending, while optimistic, is especially weak. It didn't feel true to the rest of the movie and this keeps me from giving it a higher rating. Not all problems are solved by going to church.
Overall, this is a pretty good movie, certainly much better than I expected. It's a rare example of a Christian themed movie that is not preachy and can be enjoyed by both Christian and non-Christians.
April 21, 2008Seeing that Midnight Clear had won awards for many independent film contests, I gave in and am glad I did. The film was brought to life through the amazing editing and directing of the movie along with the ability to correlate such a great acting staff. The ability to bring raw human feeling out the way Midnight Clear does makes it a film that is not merely a "feel-good" story to entertain, but one that shows the goodness in people underneath life's pains.
April 8, 2008More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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