Spaceman (2024 film)

Spaceman
Release poster
Directed by	Johan Renck
Screenplay by	Colby Day
Based on	Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař
Produced by	Michael Parets Channing Tatum Reid Carolin Peter Kiernan Timothy Headington Lia Buman Max Silva
Starring	Adam Sandler Carey Mulligan Kunal Nayyar Lena Olin Isabella Rossellini Paul Dano
Cinematography	Jakob Ihre
Edited by	Scott Cummings Simon Smith John Axelrad
Music by	Max Richter
Production companies	Tango Entertainment Free Association Sinestra
Distributed by	Netflix
Release dates	February 20, 2024 (2024-02-20) (Berlinale) February 23, 2024 (2024-02-23) (United States)
Running time	107 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million[2]

Spaceman is a 2024 American

Spaceman premiered at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2024, and received a limited theatrical release on February 23, 2024 before its streaming debut by Netflix on March 1, 2024.

Plot

Czech astronaut Jakub Procházka is six months into a space mission to investigate a mysterious cloud of dust and particles, called Chopra, lying beyond Jupiter. The Czech mission has arrived shortly before a competing South Korean mission. Jakub struggles with loneliness and misses his wife, Lenka, who has recently stopped talking with him after he left her and their unborn daughter behind to go on the mission.

Lenka sends him a message telling him that she wants to leave him, but Commissioner Tuma, Jakub's commanding officer, prevents it from reaching 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, whom Jakub names Hanuš^[a], wishes to understand humans better and to help Jakub with his loneliness.

Exploring his memories, Hanuš learns more about Jakub: his father was an informant of the state party and was killed when Jakub was young. He met Lenka, but often neglected her, being more focused on his career as a cosmonaut, going as far as leaving her when she suffered a miscarriage. After showing Jakub an implanted memory of the miscarriage, which Jakub was not present for, Hanuš, disappointed with humanity, leaves the ship, leaving Jakub distressed.

Jakub arranges with technician and good friend of his, Peter, to get him to deliver a message to Lenka, asking for forgiveness for his neglect. Hanuš returns after this, revealing that he's dying due to a parasitic infection that wiped out his entire species.

The two finally arrive at the Chopra cloud, which is revealed to be a leftover of the beginning of the universe and where every moment of time exists simultaneously. Hanuš leaves to die in space, but Jakub goes after him. Within the cloud, Jakub comes to the conclusion that he only wishes to be with his wife. Hanuš passes away due to the infection.

Jakub is picked up by the South Korean space vessel. Jakub and Lenka talk again, coming to terms with their relationship.

Cast

Production

In October 2020, Netflix announced that the novel Spaceman of Bohemia would be adapted by screenwriter Colby Day into a feature film of the same name directed by Johan Renck and starring Adam Sandler.^[4] In April 2021, Carey Mulligan was added to the cast, and the film was retitled Spaceman.^[5] On April 19, 2021 it was announced that Paul Dano and Kunal Nayyar joined the cast.^[6]

Principal photography began in April 19, 2021, in New York City, and wrapped on July 1, 2021, in the Czech Republic.^[7][8] In the Czech Republic, filming took place in Prague and surrounding areas of the country's Central Bohemian Region.^[9]

Max Richter composed the soundtrack. On February 22, 2024, the track Don’t Go Away, a collaboration between Richter and the American band Sparks, which features in the film, was released to streaming services.^[10]

Release

Spaceman had its world premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in the Berlinale Special section on February 20, 2024.^[11]

The film was released on March 1, 2024,^[12] its originally planned release date in 2023 being delayed due to the impact of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.^[13]

Reception

On the

In a positive review for RogerEbert.com, Robert Daniels praised Sandler's performance, writing, "I just love Sandler in this register. It’s no longer a surprise when he pulls a well-defined and memorable dramatic performance."^[16] In a mixed review for IGN, Siddhant Adlakha wrote: Its visual artistry—which goes to great lengths to establish mood, and uneasy emotional equilibrium—is swiftly laid low by its dependence on the literal, nullifying whatever abstractions its sci-fi premise might come to briefly represent.^[17] Tim Robey of The Telegraph awarded the movie three stars out of five, summarising his review, "We're missing any real sense of awe – but for all its faults, this lands somewhere between noble failure and endearing oddity".^[2] Wendy Ide of The Guardian awarded the movie two stars out of five, writing that "Spaceman is a fascinatingly odd premise let down by its drab, dispiritingly inert execution."^[18] Writing for The New York Times, Alissa Wilkinson negatively compared it to Argylle and Madame Web calling it "an awful movie, a very bad movie indeed" and saying that her favorite part was "imagining how many people are going to click on it when it pops up on their Netflix page and wonder whether that doorjamb they’d accidentally knocked into yesterday had in fact given them a concussion."

Notes

References