Middle of Nowhere

Middle of Nowhere is the sublime sophomore feature from writer/director Ava DuVernay (I Will Follow). DuVernay, a former marketer and publicist for large-scale studio pictures, renders her low-budget indie’s simple, unvarnished story with exquisite depth and detail. Set in her native Compton California, the film tells the story of Ruby—a bright, young African-American woman who decides to drop out of med school when her husband is sent to prison, so she can more easily visit and advocate for him. It’s rare that we get movies about the struggles of ordinary black women, and watching Middle of Nowhere makes me wish we got ten films a year like this. The film’s everyday premise and setting provide a multi-leveled stage for the filmmaker and her cast to explore engrossing themes around maintaining self-respect in the face of demoralizing circumstances.  

DuVernay pens an honest, slice-of-life screenplay full of drama, passion, and keen social perspective, while managing to avoid any false melodrama, political preachiness, or indie movie clichés. As a director she elicits wonderfully complex performances from her first-rate cast. The stunning Emayatzy Corinealdi plays Ruby in a star-making turn. Her down-to-earth characterization is astoundingly subtle and real. Ruby is someone who internalizes her pain and confusion, but the incremental changes that occur within her over the course of the movie resonate deeply with the viewer. Omari Hardwick plays Ruby’s incarcerated husband Derek with quiet dignity, Edwina Findley Dickerson shines as her single-mom sister, and Lorraine Toussaint takes full command of the screen in her few scenes as Ruby’s strong but damaged mother. The marvelous David Oyelowo plays a new man who enters Ruby’s life and offers her a glimpse of an alternative future. Like Corinealdi, Oyelowo radiates movie star gorgeousness yet still manages to come off entirely credibly playing an average, working class person. Each actor breathes a genuine sense of a lived life into his or her exquisitely crafted roles. The film is entirely populated with the type of understated, non-showy performances that exemplify truly great acting.

DuVernay deservedly won the Sundance Best Director award for this film—making her the first black woman in the history of that festival to win for directing. Middle of Nowhere, perhaps more than any other film of this terrific year for indie pictures, fills me with optimism about the future of small, important, personal pictures from distinctive new voices.