It takes a special kind of confidence to be and entrepreneur. You start your own business, maybe set up shop somewhere and hope and pray that things work out. But when you’re a creative person who wants to make their passion their life’s work, you have to have that confidence times 1000. These people are (mostly) going at it alone and a lot of the time, those creative people don’t have anything to fall back on. It’s literally all or nothing.
Nathan Ives new documentary, Somewhere in the Middle, follows five working creatives; paper sculpture Jeff Nishinaka, musicians Griffin House and Aaron Tap, painter Dan McCaw and actress Jasika Nicole, who was a series regular on both Fringe and The Good Doctor.
Ives delves into how they made the decision to go all in on their careers, and how that impacted their lives, for both good and bad. Thankfully though, each one has done fairly well for themselves. They talk about their lean times and what they did to get through it and how they never gave up hope on fulfilling their dreams. It’s really quite inspiring.
One common thread throughout all five was the emotional support of their families. Each one had some sort of emotional crutch to fall back on. Having the support of your parents and loved ones, emotionally speaking, seems to have given each of them a huge boost of confidence. And that boost kept them going, knowing that they were doing the right thing for themselves.
The film doesn’t break any new ground, it’s basically speaking to the choir. But that’s not a bad thing at all. Because what it is saying is incredibly validating and speaks volumes on the bravery of setting out and carving out the life that you truly want to live.
Somewhere in the Middle is available now on Amazon and other streaming services.
