Film

The Midnight Sky

Name: The Midnight Sky
Genre: Science Fiction, Drama
Released: 2020
Cast: George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Caoilinn Springall, Kyle Chandler

Post-apocalyptic

A solitary scientist in an Arctic observatory tries to warn a returning spacecraft about a cataclysm that's devastated Earth. It's a contemplative sci-fi film about isolation, legacy, and whether connection matters when the world ends. Clooney carries long stretches of silence with quiet intensity. Meditative rather than thrilling—for those who like their space stories introspective and melancholy.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a quiet, melancholy space story built on a stubborn older man's loneliness and small human kindnesses, where the emotion matters more than the spectacle.

Skip it if you need the genre's jolts, since this moves at a deliberate pace and leans on mournful stillness, with long stretches of snow and quiet talk.

What it asks of you: Patience first: it is a two-hour slow burn, mostly held in cold, grey rooms and hushed exchanges, and it wants you to sit with grief long before the plot tightens.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Gravity2013

A spacecraft in crisis, stunning visuals, and a lead actor carrying the emotional weight of survival against cosmic indifference. Tense and beautiful in equal measure.

But The middle stretches of problem-solving can feel repetitive, and if you're not moved by isolation as a theme, the pacing will frustrate you.

Arrival2016

Intelligent sci-fi about communication and sacrifice, with real emotional stakes beneath the concept. A film that trusts its audience to sit with silence and meaning.

But Slow, deliberately paced, with minimal action. The reveal hinges on accepting a devastating premise some viewers will reject outright.

Interstellar2014

Epic in scope but intimate in heart—a man trying to save his family by leaving them. Breathtaking visuals, Hans Zimmer's organ-heavy score, genuine philosophical weight.

But Nearly three hours long with some muddy exposition. The climax divides people sharply on whether it earns its emotional ambition.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Midnight Sky

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Firelight2023

Both are about solitary men trying to protect someone across impossible distances and circumstances, wrestling with the question of whether love survives when connection fails.

A firefighter finds a boy who doesn't age or die. A heartbreaking exploration of how we grieve across impossible timespans—thematically aligned with Midnight Sky's meditation on legacy, but intimate and emotional rather than cosmic.

But A small, indie film that hinges entirely on the central relationship; if the boy-firefighter dynamic doesn't move you, there's nothing else to hold onto. Deliberately quiet and understated.

The Martian2015

A man alone on another world, solving problems with ingenuity and humour. Thrilling, funny, and ultimately about human resilience and connection across impossible distance.

But Relentlessly upbeat and solution-focused—if you want dread or moral complexity, this cheerful problem-solving will feel shallow.

Prospect2018

A father-daughter team prospects for gems on an alien moon. Grimy, visually inventive indie sci-fi that builds tension through weather, economics, and human desperation rather than aliens.

But The dialogue is deliberately thick and regional; hard to parse at first. The pacing is uneven and some set pieces feel unfinished.

High Life2018

A man and child alone on a spacecraft hurtling toward a black hole. Claire Denis crafts something hypnotic, sensual, and genuinely unsettling about the human body and autonomy in space.

But Obscure, glacially slow, with sexual violence and body horror. The plot is secondary to mood and sensation—conventional storytelling will not save you here.

Ad Astra2019

Brad Pitt travels deeper into space seeking his missing father. A psychological portrait of ambition and connection rendered through languid cinematography and Pitt's internalised performance.

But Meditative to the point of inertia. The philosophical questions matter more than plot momentum, which some will find self-indulgent.

The Right Stuff1983

The race to space from the test pilots' perspective. Sprawling, funny, stirring—about ego, danger, and what drives ordinary men toward extraordinary things.

But Three-and-a-half hours of 1980s filmmaking. The tone shifts tones often and the ensemble means some characters blur together.

Solaris1972

A psychologist travels to a space station orbiting an unknowable ocean world. Tarkovsky's masterpiece is about grief, consciousness, and the futility of understanding something fundamentally alien.

But Soviet pacing from 1972—dialogue-heavy, nearly three hours, no action. Demands patience and rewards it unevenly, depending on your tolerance for philosophical abstraction.

The Wandering Earth2019

Both feature a solitary figure watching from the periphery as humanity grapples with its own extinction, but where Midnight Sky is intimate and elegiac, this is loud, collective, and defiant.

A Chinese sci-fi epic in which Earth itself becomes a spaceship fleeing a dying sun. Visually staggering, operatically human, full of sacrifice and generational thinking—catastrophe on a scale Midnight Sky only glimpses.

But Dubbed English dialogue varies in quality. The plotting can be melodramatic and some sequences feel padded. Not interested in subtlety.

Detour1945

Both feature a man trying to transmit or escape a message about disaster while trapped by circumstance—one reaching out across space, one trapped by the ground beneath his feet—each confronting forces larger than individual will.

A pianist hitchhikes west and everything collapses into noir nightmare in ninety minutes. Low-budget, high-desperation American fatalism—proof that catastrophe doesn't require spectacle to devastate.

But Ancient film stock, theatrical acting, and a plot that hinges on bad decisions piling up relentlessly. If you need modern production values, this will test your patience.