Spaceman

It is very easy to think about certain films where you know a certain actor is famous for. It doesn´t matter if she or he have done a lot of different films, their biggest box office successes will always follow their career. That doesn´t have to be a bad thing though because i am sure they might actually appreciate their fan base, and still being able to try different genres and develope their acting abilities. One of the actors that comes to my mind who have clearly proved he can try a completely different path is the actor known as Adam Sandler. Most people know him from classics such as Happy Gillmore, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy and many more titles when it comes to comedies. For a while in the 90´s and the early 2000´s it seemed that Adam Sandler would never stop making comedies because they helped his career to become a Hollywood star. But then something happened in the year of 2002 and he suddenly made a serious film called Punch-Drunk Love from director Paul Thomas Andersson ( director of the 90´s classic Boogie Nights ). At the time it was a box office bomb but most of the film critics really enjoyed this film and praised it. i think one of the issues at this time in Adam Sandler´s career it was very difficult for him to do a completely different film than he usually did. It turned out that he had to return to comedy form again with the 2003 comedy Anger Management. I actally enjoy this film where he played together with legendary actor Jack Nicholson. It would only take a couple of years until he made one of my personal favourite films in career simply called Reign Over me from director Mike Bender. In this film from 2007 we find Adam Sandler playing the character Charlie Fineman who lost both his wife and daughter at September 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers collapsed. 5 years later Charlie is withdrawn and keep to himself. When he runs into his former college roomate Alan Johnson ( Don Cheadle ), Alan his shocked to see just how far his old friend have fallen. You might think just because Alan have everything such as a beautiful wife, children and is a successfull dentist. But he also struggle with personal problems. So meeting Charlie helps him finding his way back to his friend. Reign Over Me is a must see powerful drama film that deals with trauma, mental health and dealing with your past. Check this film out on streaming or on physical media. Netflix have produced several films with Adam Sandler over a number of years and i really enjoyed his film Uncut Gems. So here we are with another Netflix film with Adam Sandler doing another drama film but this one takes place in space. This film is also directed by Johan Renck ( used to be known as artist Stakka Bo in the 90´s and i actually still own 2 of his albums ) who directed the really good miniseries Chernobyl. With a great lead actor and a talented director is Spaceman just as good as we would hoping it would be, or is this nowhere near as good as it could have been?

Czech astrounaut Jakub Procházka ( Adam Sandler ) is six months into a space mission to investigate a mysterious cloud of dust and particles, called Chopra, lying beyond Jupiter. jakob struggles with loneliness and misses his wife, Lenka ( Carrey Mulligan ), who has recently stopped talking with him after he left her and their unborn daughter to go on the mission. Lenka sends him a message telling him that she wants to leave him, but Commissioner Tuma ( Isabella Rossellini ), Jakub´s commanding officer, prevents it from reaching to him, to prevent Jakub´s mental state from worsening. Days later, still without news from Lenka, Jakub finds a spider-like creature with telepathic abilities inside a compartment of the ship. The creature, who Jakub names Hanus, is about to change Jakub´s life completely.

If you are a fan of the comedies of Adam Sandler and don´t like his more serious films, you are not going to enjoy Spaceman. However, if you are a fan of his more serious films i definetely feel that you will most likely enjoy this film. Spaceman is a very deep film in many ways bringing up some very serious subjects regarding life in general. This film also brings up how it is too handle loneliness and isolation, and how to handle your own personal struggles in life. When we meet the spider that he names Hanus this film take a comletely different turn and in a strange way becomes like a friendship between this spider and this austronaut. It may sound like someone is having an LSD trip up in space but there are no drugs involved here. In a way you could say that Spaceman is one of those films that doesn´t care about what´s trending or try to fit into a specific genre, this film definetely goes in several different directions without loosing the thread. I know some people have mentioned in other reviews that this film reminded them by the classic 1972 sci fi film Solaris or that this film at least feel inspired by legendary director Andrei Tarkovsky. I have actually not seen this film so i can only talk about Spaceman in general from my own experience. I have always been a fan of odd films and i have to say this should be seen as one, considering that i can not really compare this film to anything i have seen this year so far. And that has to be seen as something positive since we need films that takes chances instead of using the safety card. Spaceman looks good both inside the spacecraft and the space scenes themselves and i feel that director Johan Renck deliver a professional crafted film. The spider looks really good given very deep dialogue scenes and im impressed how well they pulled this off. Adam Sandler deliver another solid dramatic performance and this is where is proves once again why he should be making more drama films than comedies. Anything negative to say? If you are no fan of a lot of dialogue scenes i have a feeling Spaceman will not make you interested. I do find this film interesting even though some scenes do include some heavy dialogue. In general i would say Spaceman is a film for you who want to experience something different and intelligent as well. Is this a recommendation from me? I would say yes, i do feel Spaceman is a film we need in a world filled with prequels and sequels. Finally something original for once and i enjoyed my time with this film.

Rating: DDD