''The Midnight Sky'' is a 2020 American
science fiction film directed by
George Clooney based on the 2016 novel
''Good Morning, Midnight'' by
Lily Brooks-Dalton. The script was written by
Mark L. Smith. Clooney plays a leading role in his film, as an aging scientist who must venture across the frigid
Arctic Circle to warn off a returning interplanetary spaceship following a
global catastrophe on Earth.
Felicity Jones
Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is a British actress. She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing in '' The Treasure Seekers'' (1996) at age 12. She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series of the tel ...
,
David Oyelowo
David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo ( ; born 1 April 1976) is a British actor, director and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards ...
,
Tiffany Boone
Tiffany Boone (born August 27, 1987) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Roxy Jones in '' Hunters'', Mandy Lang in the second season of the FOX TV series '' The Following'' and for her supporting roles as Savannah Snow and Mimi ...
,
Demián Bichir
Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in '' A Better Life''.
Personal life
Bic ...
,
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler (born September 17, 1965) is an American actor. Making his screen acting debut in a 1988 television film, '' Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story'', Chandler's first regular television role was in the ABC drama '' Ho ...
, and Caoilinn Springall also star.
''The Midnight Sky'' began a
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on December 11, 2020, before being released on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
on December 23. It received mixed reviews from critics, but was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the
National Board of Review
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
. At the
93rd Academy Awards
The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 202 ...
, the film was nominated for
Best Visual Effects, but lost to ''
Tenet''.
Plot
Augustine Lofthouse, a reclusive academic, has devoted his life to finding
habitable planets
Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to develop and maintain environments hospitable to life. Life may be generated directly on a planet or satellite endogenously or be transferred to it from a ...
where humanity can expand. In the present day, he meets Jean Sullivan after giving a presentation at a gala and the two form a romantic relationship. After a pregnancy scare, Sullivan leaves him because of his obsession with work and his inability to bond with other human beings. Several years later, when Lofthouse encounters her again, she tells him they have a daughter, whom he chooses not to meet.
Thirty years later, in 2049, an unspecified disaster has wiped out most of the Earth's population and left the surface contaminated with
ionizing radiation. Lofthouse, now much older, is the only person inhabiting a large
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
base. A recent flashback shows him refusing to join the evacuation crew with Mason Mosley, knowing he does not have long to live due to an unidentified serious illness requiring
hemodialysis
Hemodialysis, also spelled haemodialysis, or simply dialysis, is a process of purifying the blood of a person whose kidneys are not working normally. This type of dialysis achieves the extracorporeal removal of waste products such as creatinin ...
and medical equipment at the base. He searches the base's computer systems for active
crewed space missions to warn about the situation on Earth, and finds only one: the interplanetary craft ''
Aether'', returning from an exploration of
Jupiter's habitable moon K-23, which Lofthouse discovered.
In the meantime, the crew of ''Aether'' are unaware of the disaster and believe they have lost contact with Earth due to faulty communications systems. Lofthouse finds his antenna is too weak to contact them, even after calculating them to be in range.
Along with his deteriorating physical health, Lofthouse is experiencing mental blackouts. After a kitchen fire, he suddenly finds a young girl hiding in the kitchen, but she does not speak to him. He tries to contact the other evacuees to get someone to pick her up, but no one responds. The girl draws an
iris
Iris most often refers to:
*Iris (anatomy), part of the eye
*Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess
* ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
* Iris (color), an ambiguous color term
Iris or IRIS may also refer to:
Arts and media
Fictional ent ...
and Lofthouse infers that this is her name. He grows fond of the girl and takes her with him on a
snowmobile
A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...
to another base farther north, which has a larger, more powerful antenna. En route, in an accident, he loses his dialysis equipment. Arriving at the base, he manages to make contact with ''Aether'', but an
asteroid field damages the ship's
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
and communication systems.
To repair the damage,
mission specialist Sully, currently pregnant, and her partner, Commander Adewole, conduct a
spacewalk with
flight engineer Maya. They repair the communications and radar, but are caught in the middle of a second asteroid field that fatally injures Maya. Sully reaches out to Lofthouse, who tells her ''not'' to return to Earth because of the disaster, but go back to K-23 and start a new life there. ''Aether's'' pilot, Tom Mitchell, refuses, but upon discovering his wife's final words and seeing the state of Earth's atmosphere, he understands that it is in the crew's best interests to go back to Jupiter's moon. Still, he decides to use one of the two
re-entry vehicle
Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
s to return to Earth, hoping to find his family who may have been evacuated to temporary safety. Sanchez, who saw Maya as a second daughter, decides to accompany him and bury her body on Earth.
In her final communication with Lofthouse, Sully tells him that he was one of the reasons she joined
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
in the first place. She thanks him, telling him her mother Jean knew him, as he had given her a
moon rock, and that her full name is Iris Sullivan. Lofthouse says he already knew her name, making it clear that the young girl he had been seeing was not real. When asked how he ended up at the base from which he contacted ''Aether'', he says he thought he might be able to "help ''someone''" (hinting that the reason that he kept track of ''Aether's'' mission was not just because he discovered the moon to which it went, but also because he knew Sully was his daughter and that she was part of that mission). Lofthouse tells Sully he is proud to have finally met her, and Sully describes K-23 to him. Her description transports him there in his imagination and he falls out of radio contact. Sully and Adewole are left with nothing but to return to K-23 using a course provided by Lofthouse.
Cast
Production
The film was announced in June 2019, with
George Clooney directing and starring.
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
would distribute, with filming set to begin in October.
Felicity Jones
Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is a British actress. She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing in '' The Treasure Seekers'' (1996) at age 12. She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series of the tel ...
was added to the cast in July. Jones became pregnant sometime after having been cast. Clooney opted to rewrite her character as pregnant versus using a body double.
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler (born September 17, 1965) is an American actor. Making his screen acting debut in a 1988 television film, '' Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story'', Chandler's first regular television role was in the ABC drama '' Ho ...
and
David Oyelowo
David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo ( ; born 1 April 1976) is a British actor, director and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards ...
joined the cast in August.
Tiffany Boone
Tiffany Boone (born August 27, 1987) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Roxy Jones in '' Hunters'', Mandy Lang in the second season of the FOX TV series '' The Following'' and for her supporting roles as Savannah Snow and Mimi ...
and Caoilinn Springall were added in October. In November 2019,
Demián Bichir
Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in '' A Better Life''.
Personal life
Bic ...
joined the cast of the film.
Sophie Rundle
Sophie Rundle (born 21 April 1988) is an English actress, best known for portraying Ada Thorne in the BBC One historical crime drama television series ''Peaky Blinders'', Ann Walker in BBC One and HBO's period drama '' Gentleman Jack'', Vicky B ...
,
Ethan Peck
Ethan Gregory Peck (born March 2, 1986) is an American actor. He is the grandson of actor Gregory Peck and Greta Kukkonen, the elder Peck's first wife. In 2019, he played a young Spock in '' Star Trek: Discovery'' (2019), a role he has reprised ...
,
Tim Russ
Timothy Darrell Russ (born June 22, 1956) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and musician. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on '' Star Trek: Voyager'', Robert Johnson in ''Crossroads'' (1986), Casey in '' ...
and
Miriam Shor
Miriam Shor (born July 25, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her performance in the rock musical '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' and in the 2001 film adaptation of the same name. She later starred in a number of short-lived televisio ...
were announced as being added in January 2020.
Filming began on October 21, 2019 in England, and wrapped in Iceland on February 7, 2020. The scene that takes place in a blizzard was filmed in 50-mile-per-hour (80 km/h) winds with temperatures at 40 °F below zero (–40 °C). Some shooting also took place at
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...
, in the
Canary Islands. For his role, Clooney lost 25 pounds (~11.5 kg).
Scenes set on Earth and involving Clooney were shot before the end of 2019, while scenes set in space were shot after the production's Christmas break.
The film was shot with
Arri Alexa 65
The Arri Alexa (stylised as ΛLEXΛ) is a digital motion picture camera system developed by Arri. First introduced in April 2010, the camera was Arri's first major transition into digital cinematography after previous efforts such as the Arri ...
cameras (the
digital equivalent of
65mm film
70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...
) with the intent of screening it in
IMAX theatres. Because of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, this never occurred.
Release
The film had a limited theatrical release on December 11, 2020, and was released digitally on December 23. It was the most-watched film on Netflix over its first five days. The film remained in the top 10 for its first 12 days of release. Netflix later revealed that the film was seen by 72 million households during its first week. In March 2021, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' reported the film was the most-watched among Netflix's Oscar-nominated titles, and assigned it an "audience appeal score" of 98 out 100.
Reception
Critical response
''The Midnight Sky'' received some praise for its "ambition and emotional tone," though was compared unfavorably to other science fiction films.
Alonso Duralde
Alonso Duralde (born May 18, 1967) is an American film critic, author, and podcaster.
Personal life
Duralde was born in East Point, Georgia, the youngest of seven children born to Spanish immigrants. He attended Vanderbilt University and curre ...
of ''
TheWrap
''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman
Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...
'' wrote "There's a lot that's frustrating about George Clooney's new film ''The Midnight Sky'', from its egregious borrowing from any number of better movies to its pacing issues, but thanks to a few grace notes, its shortcomings are mostly forgivable." Leah Greenblatt of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' gave the film a B and described it as "a dystopian drama whose fluctuating tone—grim, with flickers of hopeful sentiment—feels almost comfortingly familiar, if a little on the nose for 2020."
''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reviewer Joe Morganstern gave the film a warm review, but added: "The film isn't perfect. The narrative piles crisis upon crisis, from a fat fire in the observatory kitchen to spectacular repair efforts in space and a startling sequence that involves droplets of blood. The pace, paradoxically, can be awfully slow, but it may seem less so to home viewers with plenty of time and patience; the metabolic rate of motion pictures will be changing in the streaming era, to an extent we can't foresee."
Brian Tallerico of ''
RogerEbert.com'' reviewed the film more harshly and gave it two stars, concluding, "The heart of this movie just isn't there. It's as weightless as space."
Box office
In the Netherlands, the film ranked 17th in its first weekend, grossing $22,070 from 14 theaters with an average of $1,576 per theater. In South Korea, the film opened 4th, grossing $24,608 from 218 theaters with an average of $112 per screen.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Sky, The
2020 films
2020 drama films
2020 science fiction films
2020s dystopian films
2020s English-language films
2020s science fiction drama films
American dystopian films
American post-apocalyptic films
American science fiction drama films
American space adventure films
Anonymous Content films
English-language Netflix original films
Films about astronauts
Films about mental health
Films about scientists
Films based on American novels
Films based on science fiction novels
Films directed by George Clooney
Films produced by George Clooney
Films produced by Grant Heslov
Films scored by Alexandre Desplat
Films set in 2049
Films set in the Arctic
Films set on spacecraft
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
Films shot in Iceland
Films shot in London
Films shot in the Canary Islands
Productions using StageCraft
Smokehouse Pictures films
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
2020s American films