Lucy in the Sky

First of all, the only sci-fi part of the film is that the Space Shuttle program never ended. Second, as many other reviewers noticed, the movie starts really well, then it fizzles... it just fizzles. One can actually hear the feeble flatulent sound of the ideas in the movie going absolutely nowhere. The difference between the beginning and the ending is so vast that your mind is blown away and you go crazy, not unlike being in space for the first time.

It's a frightening window into what men see strong women as being: rigid, driven, single minded, egocentric, scary and ultimately going nuts whenever they need to chill and get the task done. It's Natalie Portman going crazy again on a difficult job, despite all the Southern cliches about no nonsense old nanas, toughing it out and working twice as hard as men to get to the same point and the mixed and meaningless metaphors uttered on a piano sound background. And why does she go crazy? Because of a man. Well, amongst other things that also happen because of men, like her marriage to a perfectly nice husband that does not look like Jon Hamm.

Bottom line: if you want a movie so deep that you will scour IMDb comments to understand what the hell happened, yet so superficial as to be 95% cliches, this is the thing for you. And no, Dan Stevens does NOT go crazy too and break the Universe. That's something else.

The plot is just boring and doesn't go anywhere. Lucy's life and experiences aren't interesting, and I have no interest in the plot at all. I don't see the point of this film. What a huge waste of Natalie and Jon.

Following on the foot steps of Joaquin Phoenix who stars in Joker and Rene Zellweger who stars in Judy comes Natalie Portman in another movie that feels like the lead is trying to win an Oscar. As a fan of NASA it's a movie I'm glad I saw. It seems that their is a psychological break down that can happen to astronauts who have been to space and this is about one of them, a fictional story based on real events. As Lucy is a space walker freshly back on Earth who goes a little mad in her attempt to get back up there. I'm familiar with the withdrawal the chosen few get, when they see Earth in it's entirely than have to come back to the planet, but this movie talks about how bad it can get. Watching this unfold on the silver screen is not as interesting as it sounds, despite how much great acting talent they have all over this thing. If the condition is real, the filmmakers spent way too much time being respectful of it rather than making a great movie. My only interest in the film is as someone who thinks being an astronaut is cool, but the movie is dull.

"Lucy In the Sky" (2019 release; 124 min.) brings the story of Lucy. As the movie opens, Lucy is doing a space walk near the International Space Station, where the Shuttle has brought the astronauts. Lucy is overwhelmed by the experience. Upon returning to earth, we get to know her husband who also works at NASA. It becomes clear very quickly that Lucy is having a hard time readjusting to life on earth, her husband calling it suffering from "rocketlag".Meanwhile Lucy feels a special bond with Mark, who also has flown on the Space Shuttle... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the first feature-length from debut director Noah Hawley, best known for his TV work including "Fargo". Here he brings a story to the screen that is "Inspired by real events", as we are informed at the beginning of the movie. Indeed, the story reminds of the real life story of astronaut Lisa Nowak, who did a space mission with the Shuttle in 2006 (can't tell you more as it would spoil your viewing experience). Let's be clear: "Lucy In the Sky" is NOT a space movie a la the recent "Ad Astra" or "Gravity" a few years ago. In fact, there are only a few scenes set in space, with a total screen time of about 5 minutes. The movie tells us what happens to Lucy AFTER she returns back to earth. In that sense, the movie's marketing campaign and trailer is completely misleading, I'm sorry to say. Natalie Portman as Lucy does the best that she can in what is a challenging script, certainly in the movie's first hour. If you wonder whether the movie contains the Beatles song "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds", it does (covered by Lisa Hannigan). I noticed in the end credits that Reece Witherspoon is one of the producers. One definitive positive is the movie's original score, an orchestral instrumental composed by Jeff Russo, and one I plan on checking out further.

"Lucy In the Sky" premiered to negative criticism at last month's Toronto International Film Festival, and has remained under clouds ever since. After opening in a few cities last weekend, the movie rolled out to more cities this weekend, and opened on 3 screens for all of Greater Cincinnati (population: 2.5 million). The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati turned out to be a private screening, as I was literally the only person in the theater. In short: this movie has bombed completely at the box office, and I can't see it getting a much wider (or longer) theater run. I was aware of the negative reviews and criticisms going into the theater today, and hence my expectations were low, very low indeed. Hence I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a complete disaster, and the 2 hours flew by pretty quickly. If you are interested in a flawed yet worthwhile character study (and then some), I'd suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (doubtful at this point), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Lucy in the Sky is inspired by true events in the most artificial sense. Telling the story of an Astronaut dealing her own sanity. The film means well. It clearly has something to say, but I fails to give anything to us in a meaningful way.

Natalie Portman gives it her all, playing a character that is losing herself and has a lot of emotional baggage. She's terrific, but sadly the rest of the film is not. Lucy in the Sky is a miscalculated mess, with so many things in it and so little as well that it's hard to remain engaged.

The movie feels empty, emotionless and very dull. The only thing of visual interest are when then the aspect ratio of the film changes throughout the film. We go from 4:3 to 16:9 and more. The screen shrinks grows and it all seems based on how our character is feeling at the time. It's interesting, but proves to be a large distraction.

The film ultimately has nothing to really offer. There's no incite, no intrigue and it's ultimately empty. Natalie Portman does her best as do the rest of the cast, but it ends up just being a failed film with good ideas executed poorly.