Steve Alpert

Reviews and other content aren't verified by Google

I found this movie like breathing pure oxygen. Take a little while to understand the style of the storytelling, but I was drawn into it in a very deep and quiet way. A masterwork. Effortlessly and quietly told, it is about a man who has come to a place in his life where he is in a state to serenity. Happy with who he has become. Living very simply and not asking anything from anyone, yet not having withdrawn from life despite a past we don’t really know much about. There is one scene with. A reveal about his former life. Living in a fast moving and monster huge city, Tokyo, our hero lives a quiet life where he seeks contact with nature, tress specifically. The final scene is a beautiful piece of acting. Koji Yokusho. Astounding Koji-San! Even surpassing Bob Hoskins last scene in the British crime movie, "The Long Good Friday." And this is crazy...I watched it at home and there were no subtitles for whatever technical reason. I watched in the original Japanese not knowing what exactly they were saying. I just found out there were subtitles! And with that, I still loved this film, and did not need to know all the spoken details. Now I can't wait to go back and watch to learn what they were actually saying. It didn't matter, I made up my own surmises of what the characters were saying to each other. I understand that I completely missed a layer of storytelling that was intended by Mr. Wenders, BUT, I still was totally immersed and loved every moment.

I love sci-fi and am always rooting for a sci-fi movie to succeed. I rooted for this one like always and kept waiting to be bowled over. Some of my faves; 2001 A Space Oddyssey, Solaris, even Ad Astra... but Midnight Sky seemed to have all the elements necessary to deliver the punch, or at least one punch, but it never went all the way. Great cast, fine portrayal of the indifference and random and seemingly infinite dangers of humans in space, and the devastating notion of how we are moving toward possible self-extinction. Was that the ultimate point of, Midnight Sky? Could be. How am I. it sure? What is the space baby at the end of 2001; A Space Oddyssey? Still not sure. Not that I really am upset by the not knowing, because my guess is that space seems to offer way more questions than answers which is stated in Midnight Sky...so George Clooney, is this a message film? Are you issuing a warning for all of us to get our act together so that we don’t end up like Midnight Sky. I think that might be it. I dunno.

A movie that does not know what it wants to be .The landscape of the Dakotas was the star, greatly overwhelming the fits and starts of a meandering storyline that never seems to have any kind conclusion. A terrific cast and well known crew of tp professionals. Sometimes cast and crew just can't surpass the limits of a script. A well respected director like Arthur Penn seems to be somewhat befuddled about what to do with this movie. As a viewer, it is difficult to withstand the avarice and violence of what white men did to the indigenous inhabitants f North America that ultimately were decimated and destroyed. \ You could find many more movies worth your time than this one.