On March 1, Netflix released the sci-fi drama film Spaceman starring Adam Sandler. This is a film adaptation of the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar, published in 2017. In the review below, we analyze how the comedian Sandler coped with the dramatic role this time and what shocks his character will face during the long space mission. And most importantly, whether they are worth the viewer’s attention.
Pluses:
Adam Sandler in a dramatic role is always interesting, although here it felt as if the actor had no room to unfold to the fullest; quite a nice interaction between the protagonist and the spider; a well-developed technical component
Minuses:
the creators offer a continuous meditative narrative, but do not reward the viewer with a distinct meaning; superficial truths are served with a sauce of almost revelation; the film is not able to evoke a sincere audience response; Carey Mulligan's part is criminally small; the satirical component is very weak, in principle, like almost everything else in this film
Spaceman
Genre science fiction drama
Director Johan Renck
Starring Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Isabella Rossellini, Lena Olin, Paul Dano (voice)
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb
Jakub Procházka, a sleep-deprived Czech cosmonaut with big bags under his eyes, has been on a 189-day solo space journey for the past year. He has traveled 500 million kilometers to study the particles of a mysterious dust cloud called “Chopra”, which has been sparkling with a beautiful purple glow in the sky for four years, and is slowly approaching his goal.
In addition to the fact that Jakub is not sleeping well and the toilet on the ship is not working properly, the lonely traveler is also distraught that his wife Lenka has not been in touch for quite some time. But these annoyances soon fade into the background when the hero is horrified to discover an intruder — a spider-like creature endowed with intelligence and the gift of speech.
However, Jakub shouldn’t expect a showdown in the style of Alien, because this alien, despite his slightly creepy appearance, turned out to be absolutely friendly. Moreover, he is sincerely trying to help the astronaut rethink his values and finally understand what is most important to him in this life.
After working on HBO’s hugely successful Chernobyl, Swedish music video maker and film director Johan Renck took on the sci-fi novel Spaceman of Bohemia, which The Guardian’s observer Tibor Fischer compared to Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris.
But whatever complimentary epithets the book received from literary critics, its movie adaptation was less controversial and unimpressive. Renck and, judging from his modest filmography, not-so-experienced screenwriter Colby Day, attempt to pass off simple surface truths as revelations, unsuccessfully disguising their clumsy brainchild as intellectual fiction.
The problem is that this completely boring and gloomy movie assumes a sincere audience response, but with such an apathetic narrative it is difficult to claim any emotions from the viewer.
The protagonist’s behavior evokes not sympathy but outright disrespect, given his attitude toward his pregnant wife. Yes, this behavior is to some extent rooted in Jakub’s childhood traumas, but they do not justify the extreme selfishness multiplied by cowardice. The man is willing to travel almost to the edge of the solar system to escape responsibility.
Neither Sandler’s meaningful glances into the distance, nor his position in the frame that reveal the character’s inner depression, nor small metaphors such as Prokhazka’s constantly suspended state or his exercise routine, which is essentially an escape, but also a stomping around in place, have the desired effect here. All these clues and hints do not make the character more interesting or deserving of empathy.
Genre-wise and stylistically, Spaceman is an easy-to-read meditative chamber drama, supported by a sluggish science fiction component. In terms of content, it resembles an hour-and-a-half psychoanalysis session in space. Correction: a very boring psychoanalysis session.
This is not the first time in recent years that Adam Sandler has been far from the usual image of a frivolous joker («Uncut Gems», «Hustle») — here, the only thing funny is his character’s surname. Watching the actor’s mournful face for 100 minutes is a so-so kind of pleasure. Sandler’s anemic performance is reminiscent of his character in the drama «Reign Over Me» (2007) and, although it is caused by Jakub’s depressed state, is not admirable.
The psychoanalyst spider with the voice of Paul Dano can hardly be called a full-fledged character, given how little information is given about him. The creature gives out pseudo-philosophical interpretations of «The Matrix Revolutions» slogan (Everything that has a beginning has an end), and its irritating address to the astronaut «skinny man» could easily turn into some kind of meme. It’s a good thing that the authors were smart enough not to introduce Russian cosmonauts into the plot, which took place in the original novel.
Spaceman is definitely not designed to entertain the viewer, but there is no interesting food for thought or sincere emotional outburst to be found here. Only the infinitely sad eyes of the artist Sandler in a close-up, looking tiredly at the unlikely passenger, which is so eager to be characterized by lines from a song by a famous artist: «He took the food right out of my hand, a trained spider».