Unknown Retro Future: A “Midnight Special” Review

There’s a governing principle in screenwriting that says a scene should work to raise a question or answer one. The best scenes strive to do both. In this way, a movie pulls the viewer along, introducing new information to urge us from one moment to the next. Good films make us want to know more. There’s an implicit trust that forms here, a pact between audience and filmmaker; the film reassuring that if you give up your time, you will be rewarded with something. But when a movie tosses out more questions than it answers, when its mystery grows beyond proportion, the audience is asked something slightly different. Here, faith is required.

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