Seven Minutes Past Midnight - Blu-ray

Movie: How Conor (Lewis MacDougall) would love to be bothered with normal teenage problems. Everything seems to be going down the drain in his life right now. His mother (Felicity Jones) is seriously ill, so the boy has to move in with his hypothermic, strict grandmother (Sigourney Weaver). At school, he is shown little sympathy. On the contrary. On a daily basis, Conor is bullied by other classmates. And his father (Toby Kebbell) only has time for his new family. When Conor wakes up from another nightmare one night, he is startled to find that the large yew tree in front of the house has turned into a monster, who from then on regularly visits him at seven minutes past midnight to tell him three stories. Not knowing if he is dreaming it all, the monster's stories lead him down an unusual and difficult path - the path to a truth the boy does not want to admit.

Seven Minutes Past Midnight is a touching story about the difficult threshold from childhood to adulthood, about grief, loneliness, and the need to let go. With great sensitivity and an imaginative visual language, director J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage) has transformed Patrick Ness's multiple award-winning novel into a gripping cinema drama that became the most successful film of the year in its native Spain in 2016. The great art of this story, both in the form of the book and in its cinematic adaptation, is that while it is told from the point of view of a child, it deals with many themes that you can identify with even as an adult.

The contrast with the gravity of reality and the admittedly somewhat dark playfulness of the fantasy elements seems at first too great a discrepancy for the production to fail. But it soon becomes clear how the two are connected - and that then gives the film its very special character. Seven Minutes After Midnight shows impressively how empathetically the childish mind can find a way to deal with an unspeakable truth. However, this is not only beautifully illustrated by the visuals, but also by the great acting of the cast.

Particularly new discovery Lewis MacDougall and a really great Sigourney Weaver can leave a lasting impression. Towards the end there is a moment between the two that scratches very close to the kitsch border, but which the two deliver so credibly and confidently that it can lead to goosebumps and maybe even a few tears in the audience. Seven Minutes After Midnight is sad and beautiful at the same time, imaginatively playful and depressingly real. A wonderful film that gives a life-affirming light of hope even in the deep darkness of grief. Absolutely worth seeing!

Image + Sound: Both in the feature sequences and in the animated scenes in which the monster narrates the stories, the Blu-ray's visuals can boast atmospheric color, a very high level of detail and a pleasing depth of image. The sound is able to play to its strengths, especially in the scenes where the monster makes an appearance, as well as in the grand finale. Good.

Extras: The bonus material consists primarily of the usual promo material. A brief introduction (approx. 1:22 min.) is followed by a look at the making of the story (approx. 5:39 min.). The monster (approx. 6:41 min.), the cast (approx. 4:54 min.) and the director (approx. 2:12 min.) are the subject of further featurettes. It continues with a making of the effects (approx. 8:19 min.) and interviews with Liam Neeson (approx. 2:26 min.), Felicity Jones (approx. 3:05 min.), Sigourney Weaver (approx. 2:21 min.), Lewis MacDougall (approx. 1:56 min.), director J. A. Bayona (approx. 1:10 min.) as well as writer Patrick Ness (approx. 2:18 min.). A few cut scenes (approx. 6:34 min.) round out the video offerings. Additionally, the disc has two optional subtitled audio commentaries to offer: A Spanish one with the director and an English one with the writer. Both commentaries are interesting, but also a wee bit dry.

Conclusion: Seven Minutes After Midnight is sad and beautiful at the same time, imaginatively playful and depressingly real. It's a beautiful film that presents itself on the Blu-ray in very good picture and sound quality. The bonus material is quite extensive, but overall very promo-heavy and too superficial to be fully convincing. The film alone, however, is enough for it to come to this well-deserved conclusion: absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp