My main takeaway from Midnight Caller is how we’ve distanced ourselves from one another, especially through social media, losing our ability to connect or empathize. Life has become a video game that we play, where we rarely speak face to face, and everyone else feels like an NPC.
With Dave, people are exploited for the sake of ratings… ratings that he desperately needs. Trent, Nicola, and Karleen must consider losing so that someone else might win. Solomon must somehow break through to young Nile that life is precious and not worth throwing away for a single action. There is light at the end of the tunnel, even if you can’t see it.
Kashif O’Connor delivers a heartfelt performance as Solomon, a homeless veteran offering guidance to a troubled youth in Midnight Caller.
“…serves as a poignant reminder… the decisions we make are rarely easy.”
Where Midnight Caller succeeds is in showing that bleak life can feel if we keep walking down the same path on our own. Writer/director Adam Ethan Crow walks that line between authenticity and schmaltz and stays on the right side throughout the majority of the film. His cast is quite good, keeping their stories grounded.
My only qualm is that there is a bit more balance between the three stories and a better connection between them. Much of the time is spent with Dangerous Dave, whose story is the main throughline. More time should have been spent on the car contestants, whose story needed more meat to latch onto.
Midnight Caller serves as a poignant reminder that while we all face pivotal choices in life, the decisions we make are rarely easy and always carry lasting consequences. Adam Ethan Crow beautifully weaves together multiple narratives exploring the fragility of human connection in an increasingly disconnected world.
"…There is light at the end of the tunnel, even if you can't see it."
