Long before Selma, I was an Ava DuVernay fan after watching her first feature length film, I Will Follow. I’m glad that I accidentally saved Middle of Nowhere after watching Selma, a historical epic, because I am reminded that DuVernay is the closest that American filmmakers will ever get to French filmmaking perfection. Her films, particularly Middle of Nowhere, are intimate, understated, emotionally dramatic with restraint or without giving in to sensational plot twists or spectacle even when she could without hurting the integrity of the narrative. I hope that DuVernay continues to make films about contemporary ordinary people like the women featured in I Will Follow and Middle of Nowhere.
Middle of Nowhere is about Ruby, a promising married medical student whose life is interrupted when her husband is imprisoned, and she decides to maintain their marriage despite the physical and psychological obstacles posed by jail. Middle of Nowhere deserves an award for somehow enabling me to turn off my cynical, rational brain for any amount of time and giving Ruby an enormous amount of credibility in making this decision. DuVernay depicts Ruby with so much dignity that she is in no way diminished by external circumstances. DuVernay masterfully portrays the practical daily obstacles to Ruby’s decision, many of them economic. The one scene that was terrifying is when the incredible Lorraine Toussaint, who plays Ruby’s mother, loans her $750, and Ruby needs to pay her back by a certain day or else she will default on her car loan. It is never explicitly said that Ruby did that, but of course she did because Ruby is respectable and responsible. Even so, I’m still tense at the lack of exposition.
Middle of Nowhere is infused with the beauty of daily life that we take for granted: being able to enjoy the sun, go out dancing, make dinner, etc. Also I did not realize how fine David Oyelowo was until I watched Middle of Nowhere. Don’t hide your light under MLK Jr.!
I don’t want to give away too many details of the story, but I encourage every one to have a movie night and watch I Will Follow, my favorite DuVernay film, and Middle of Nowhere!