Spaceman, 2024.
Directed by Johan Renck.
Starring Adam Sandler, Paul Dano, Carey Mulligan, Isabella Rossellini, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Sinéad Phelps, Petr Pánek, Marian Roden, John Flanders, Zuzana Stivínová, and Sunny Sandler.
SYNOPSIS:
Half a year into his solo mission on the edge of the solar system, an astronaut concerned with the state of his life back on Earth is helped by an ancient creature he discovers in the bowels of his ship.
On a year-long mission to investigate and collect samples from a pinkish cloud (nicknamed Chopra) near Jupiter that has been casually hovering in the skies for roughly five years now, Czech cosmonaut Jakub Prochazka (an outstanding Adam Sandler, putting on a monotone, dead-inside, lost the voice) is a mildly popular figure in that world, answering questions through a special video communications line from curious children about the experience and his life. He is asked if he is lonely, to which he responds by mentioning that while he may be physically alone, he gets to talk to his loving pregnant wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), every day. However, the flat voice and defeated demeanor suggest another story entirely that director Johan Renck (collaborating with screenwriter Colby Day, basing their work on the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar) peel away at in Spaceman.
Of the many thoughts and questions raised within Jakub, perhaps the heaviest and most ponderous is simply wondering why someone happy in love with a child on the way would routinely leave and spend lengthy periods away from literally the rest of the world. Jakub’s mind and mental state are interrogated with the assistance of a space spider voiced by Paul Dano (it is oversized, with two rows of numerous, glassy, oddly friendly eyes) that the cosmonaut goes on to name Hanus upon realizing that the creature means no harm but has actually been forced to escape his home planet, sharing a common interest in this pink cloud.
Lenka has slowly been driven to distance herself from Jakub due to his choices of signing up for these long voyages, and has basically ghosted him in space. However, she has put together a video message more or less spilling out her true feelings that she wants to be done with this relationship, which the communications team takes upon themselves to ensure doesn’t reach Jakub for justifiable concern of fracturing his mental state. It quickly becomes clear that Jakub was lying to the young girl and that he might actually be the loneliest person in the world, although he now has a soft-spoken, meditative, reflective, otherworldly spider creature to bond with.
Hanus can see and feel what Jakub is thinking about and contemplating, which greatly intrigues the space spider since he desires to understand not only the human race (a discovery for him) but also how this particular person ended up closing himself off from everything special in life. The bigger question is wondering if all humans are this selfish or if it’s just Jakub, especially as it’s revealed that, despite genuinely loving his partner at one point, he has found himself lying to her out of habit, assuming that she will always believe him and be there for him. As Hanus digs for those answers, there is an unnerving effect causing one to examine humans similarly.
Spaceman is less about an extensive dissection of what caused that shift or the flame in the relationship between Jakub and Lenka to die out and more about a reawakening of sorts as to what truly matters (there is a visually dazzling sequence where Jakub taps into a power granting him the ability to see and feel the beginning and the end of the universe all at once.) There are several flashbacks brought to life as disorienting, hazy memories with a fitting score from Max Richter (you might not recognize the name, but you almost have certainly heard On the Nature of Daylight play overemotional scenes in Arrival and The Last of Us, which should also give an idea of what vibe these segments are going for), drip-feeding information about Jakub’s life, but not enough to eradicate any sense of mystery regarding the human condition.
As man and creature explore Jakub’s mind, details emerge about his life, including a disgraced father who was murdered, the initial happier stages of his relationship with Lenka, and his childhood. Nothing here explicitly answers some of the film’s biggest questions, but it provides enough to piece together elements and paint a clearer picture of Jakub, all of which is elevated by an intentionally dry and flat but undeniably effective Adam Sandler, delivering a performance like he never has before. The bond between Jakub and Hanus also takes on an emotional arc of its own, heading to some unexpectedly moving places. Thankfully, Lenka also has some scenes by her lonesome in his attempt to flesh out the character, although the script is less successful in that area, giving her an unforgivably corny final line of dialogue.
There is also the possibility that everything mentioned here makes Spaceman sound fairly clichéd, but it takes these plot elements and stirs them into a pot, relentlessly offering up philosophical dialogue that some might find pretentious, whereas others will find stimulation and meaning due to the sincerity of the storytelling (giving the score from Max Richter emotional gravitas.) Most of all, Spaceman is a calmly strange film that is both absorbing for its ideas and questions raised, but also for the pleasure provided by Adam Sandler once again elevating his game as a dramatic performer.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
