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Level 33 Entertainment releases The Midway Point on VOD on May 19th, 2026. NYC MOVIE GURU: What does the term "cinematic" mean to you? Lucca Vieira: It's something that you can feel throughout your body and when it truly has an impact on you. They're the kinds of films that can truly impact you and alter the way you see the world. Usually, the films that do that are the ones that have been a long time in the making and have had an amazing amount of dedication throughout them. NYC MOVIE GURU: François Truffaut observed that a truly great movie should find the right balance between Truth and Spectacle. Do you agree with that? LV: I agree with him. In an age where so many people are focusing on short-term profits and going all out on things like AI without any consideration of the consequences, I feel like Truth and the quest for it are very important things to have in your film and your career as a filmmaker in general. I'm always searching for Truth and creating and showing a certain version of the world. That's pretty much the reason that I'm into filmmaking. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think that Jake (played by Sean Ryan Fox) is shy? LV: That's definitely something that Jake goes through at the end of the day. Not everyone has to fit into that mold, obviously. Jake is a person who isn't shy per se. I feel like the world around him has, in a way, forced him to be a little bit more shy. I feel like the main struggle that Jake faces is that he wants to present himself in a certain way to people, but that way of being is not how he behaves normally. Every time you try to mask or censor yourself like that, it ends up making you retreat a little bit and overly focus on how to present yourself and what you're going to do next. So, I just feel like, especially towards the beginning of the film, he wants to be seen and wants to be himself. Towards the end of the film is when he starts to figure that out. NYC MOVIE GURU: How complex do you think Jake's emotions are? Do you think he has found his own Truth? LV: Jake, as a character, is someone who I've spent a lot of time with in the development of the script. I feel like he definitely struggles a lot with alienation and feeling like he's not fitting into the mold that society wants him to be in. His search for connection is something that he truly wants. This is something that he finds with Alice along the way even though they go off to a somewhat rocky start. I feel like they find their Truth and connection along the way. NYC MOVIE GURU: Which emotion was most challenging for you to capture as a filmmaker? LV: Confusion. A lot of times I struggle with finding the right tone and balance. You can make a character look confused or anxious in a variety of ways. A lot of times, especially with The Midway Point, it was a challenge to find the right balance between the tone of the story and the tone of what the characters are feeling. I wanted it to feel organic. I didn't want it to feel like something that was forced or not authentic to what the characters are going through and the style of the movie. I feel like that was kind of half the battle and something that I generally spend a lot of time on, especially because my films tend to be heady and psychological in nature. NYC MOVIE GURU: How does one find individuality in a world where herd mentality and peer pressure exist? LV: I feel like social media definitely has an effect on our mentality and our feeling of belonging in the world. A lot of times, people, especially in my generation, are feeling confused. There's so much to do and there are some many groups and little niches that you can fit in that you end up not fitting into anything at all. What I was trying to do with The Midway Point was to show that we're all individuals. We're all searching for connection. Just because you're not fitting into the mold doesn't mean that you can't belong anywhere. You're deserving of love, attention and care. That's something universal. NYC MOVIE GURU: How would you rate the parenting skills of Jake's mother, Cristina (played by Thora Birch)? LV: Cristina is a good mom. She's a little bit inattentive at times and heavy-handed. I feel like a lot of times, as a character, she doesn't quite know how to deal with Jake and doesn't quite know how to use the right method to deal with some of the turmoil that he's going through. She doesn't know how to express that. She feels a great deal of the pain that he's going through and the anxiety, but she doesn't know how to communicate that. So, she has some room for improvement, but, otherwise, she's just trying her best. She loves him and, at the end of the day, as his mother, she wants the best for him. NYC MOVIE GURU: The scene towards the end with Jake and Cristina having a heart-to-heart conversation reminds me of the heart-to-heart scene with the father and son in Call Me By Your Name and the mother and son in Boyhood because they hit similar notes. How do you feel about that observation? LV: One of the things that I wanted to go for with that scene was to bring home the fact that Cristina is someone who cares a great deal about Jake and, at the end of the day, even though that she hasn't quite been there for him in the way that he wants her to be, she's still willing to learn from her mistakes and to try to do what's best for him. I feel like that's relatable to a lot of parents universally---not just to parents whose children are on the spectrum or neurodivergent. NYC MOVIE GURU: What do you think Jake would feel about Pablo Neruda's poem, "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming."? LV: I feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel. There's always going to be better days even when the world seems bleak. There's a line in the movie where Jake's math teacher, Mr. Williams, says something along the lines of, "What you're going through right now is not going to last forever. You can always hope for a better future and create a better future for yourself and for others." I feel like that's a constant thing that even I have to remind myself of. The world, especially today, is in a rough place. It's always important to have hope and to give into doomerism. There is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel. NYC MOVIE GURU: What was the process like to decide what to leave to the audience's imagination and when to trust their intelligence? LV: The choice to not explicitly say the word "autism" in The Midway Point is definitely a deliberate choice on that part. I didn't want the film to be about autism; I want the film to kind of speak for itself and to be a portrait of a teenager who hopes, dreams, talent, struggles to fit in, and just happens to be on the autism spectrum. I wanted to make a psychological portrait of him from that angle, and to make a human story. NYC MOVIE GURU: Which fictional characters from any other movies do you think Jake would get along with? LV: Anyone from a Charlie Kaufman film would just be up his alley. One of the references that I used for The Midway Point was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey's character in that, Joel Barrish, is just brilliant. He's shy, very curious and his demeanor is something that Jake would enjoy and understand. I also feel like he'd get along with Adam Sandler's character in Punch Drunk Love, which is another big reference. Also, Bill Murray's character in Lost in Translation is someone who he'd understand even though he hasn't lived through the same experiences. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think that he'd become more enlightened if he were to befriend Maude from Harold & Maude? LV: I feel like, in a way, yes. She's a very old woman getting along with a young guy. Aside from that, she would kind of get his sense of frustration at the world and his alienation. She'd explain things from her perspective, but from a perspective that he would understand. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you think that Alice (played by Catharine Daddario) forgave herself for emotionally hurting Jake? LV: Even though there's a chance that she might fall into the same trap again, I feel like she has kind of learned her lesson. Not to speak for her, but I feel like a big part of why she said that to Jake is because she really does love him, but she doesn't want to assume the love for him because she feels like it would ruin the façade that she's built for herself of being this cool, brash and outgoing girl. Towards the end, she kind of starts giving it up a little. NYC MOVIE GURU: How introspective do you think Jake is? How challenging is it as a filmmaker to capture introspection? LV: What I try to do with Allison was to show the troubled inner world that she has. Towards the middle half, she's someone who's introspective and has a lot of heart to give to the world, but she's kind of brought down by past traumas and her past struggles with people in general. I feel like she wants to present herself as someone who's got it all under control, but she really doesn't. That's something that she learns to deal with and to grow from that experience. NYC MOVIE GURU: Would The Midway Point work in black and white? LV: I feel like it might work, but it would have to be another tone. A lot of what we tried to do in the cinematography and the coloring in the film was to have kind of subdued colors toward the beginning and the middle half, and then saturated colors when Jake is falling in love and when he has overcome his troubles. NYC MOVIE GURU: Could you imagine a sequel to The Midway Point? LV: Every film that I develop is sort of a spiritual sequel to something that I've already experienced before or that I've explored in a previous work of mine. I feel like the next film I'm writing, which is body horror and completely different from the kind of genre of The Midway Point, but there are similar themes of alienation, not fitting in and the glossy, fake high school environment. So, this other film that I'm developing has to do with two college students, but it also explores similar themes. Every film I've had to make is dealing with that feeling of unease, alienation and not fitting in. In a way, they're all kinds of sequels to stuff that I've made in the pas---at least in my head. NYC MOVIE GURU: How do you feel about a film and art in general as a form of protest for or against something? LV: One of the major things that I've tried to get at with The Midway Point was that there are a lot of people right now, especially in my generation, who are trying to fit in it. They're living in a world overwhelmed with so much constant chaos and noise, so I feel like a lot of times people need to take a break from that and experience hope, joy and an authentic connection with somebody or something or to live a little. One of the things that I like to do with every script that I write is to find a problem in society that I don't really agree with and try to make something out of it. I try to think of something to do with it and to portray it in the right way whether it's a horror genre or a thriller. I'm really drawn to characters who are on the fringes. With every film that I write, I want to, in my own way, make the world, hopefully, a better place or at least a better place for people watching my movies. NYC MOVIE GURU: What do you think is more challenging: to figure out the world outside of us or the world inside of us? LV: The world outside is complicated, but what's more complicated is to learn how to deal with the world inside of us. I feel like, a lot of times, we're so overwhelmed with the world outside of us that we forget how to deal with everything within ourselves and we kind of lose ourselves in the process. A lot of times, people need to take a break and to experience life as it is and to not get into the mold a little bit---not as someone who others want them to be or a façade of some sort, but to experience life as their authentic selves. NYC MOVIE GURU: Which films do you think would make a good double feature with The Midway Point? LV: Punch Drunk Love, Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind would be a good double feature with The Midway Point. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, even though I wasn't that influenced by it, I feel like it's a similar mood and a similar aura. Also, Y Tu Mama Tambien, a little bit, especially since it was referenced cinematography-wise. Ghost World, obviously, with Thora Birch also being in The Midway Point. I feel like a lot of coming-of-age dramas and teen movies deal with themes of alienation and finding connection. Main Page Interviews Menu Alphabetical Menu Chronological Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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