Midnight Mass
On apps like Twitter you’ll find a lot of very heinous cinema takes from the most disagreeable people, but every now & then you get an absolute gem of a take. For me, one of those was from a user who made what should be an obvious statement: simple cinematography =/= bad or worse cinematography. Oftentimes the most stylistic visual storytelling is ultimately the most vapid while the simple & slow work holds a lot more thematic merit. While I personally prefer a more fast paced, abstract & heavily stylistic piece of cinema whenever I can, every now & then something like Midnight Mass strikes me with its immense, simplistic brilliance. Simplistic not in its thematic or philosophical storytelling, there is all the questions (& answers) about religion you could really want, with still plenty of room for mystery & intrigue but rather, simplistic in the way of visual presentations. A lot of shots are framed the same, with a lot of the visual storytelling coming from simple lighting tricks & the composition of each frame. It gives it a meticulous feel, but also an immensely raw one, aided by the color scheme which has a very natural look to it. It doesn’t feel desaturated. It feels honest.
Religion is a scary concept. This is coming from a Christian man who grew up religious, & I say again: religion is terrifying. The idea of abstract laws which govern reality dictating definitive ideas of good and evil where upon failing to meet the expectations of good you are met with eternal suffering beyond comprehension with your only saving grace being the idea of repentance. It’s ultimately why, while I agree with the philosophies purposed by Christian scripture & live by it the best I can, I’m not a fan of teaching children about it, or at the very least the most high concept ideas within it. Personally if I ever did become a father, I’d never do it, rather I’d let them find God themselves, easing into it for however much their little curiosity takes them, a method of teaching I can’t recommend to parents enough. With that all said, I think there are few religious horror films I find as emotionally riveting as this & frankly I can’t wait to check out his other NETFLIX series, all of which I had unfortunately missed. What was I thinking? Better late than never.