In his debut film Shotgun Stories he took a look at the dynamic of siblings. In his 2011 film Take Shelter he explores the beauty and hard times of a marriage through a tale of a man who is having post-apocalyptic visions. In Mud, his 2013 outing, he gives the point of view through a child who learns to grow up and understand everything his parents are going through while hanging out with man child in need of his own coming of age story. In Nichols new film Midnight Special he takes on a similar theme. Instead of the point of view coming from the child observing the adults the movie lets the parents be the observers to a child’s story, which is all told through a fantastic, sci-fi mystery thriller.