I got to see this film at an advance screening ahead of general cineplex release, in a small but dedicated audience who came out on a windy subzero Thursday night. I happily recommend it. The storyline is built on the modern search for Earth-like planets and evidence for life elsewhere in the universe, and the most important thing I want to say is that the science (the astronomy part especially) is real, credible, and gripping. The storyline is clever, the acting is good, and it's engaging from start to finish. We know from the start that a 'discovery' is going to come along, one way or another, and the way it emerges is really nice -- a quite clever twist on what we might have expected. No spoilers, because it's worth seeing for the way it resolves. The director and writer, Akash Sherman, had the basics for the story in place right from the start, but he also had the sense to hire a couple of legitimate science consultants to nail it all down. So the script (mostly) isn't built on "junk science" like most scifi films do (although the use of ideas from "quantum entanglement", which is increasingly popular these days, also has an important role but turns out to be a bit of a stretch).
The way this kind of science is done is also on the money, even if understandably overdramatized just a little. The plot develops just like most real science does: it's both competitive (who's going to "get there" first?? are our heroes going to get scooped by someone else?) and cooperative (many people have to combine their expertise and resources to finish the project). The leading pair are Isaac (Patrick J. Adams) and Clara (Troian Bellisario) but as things develop they get help from Isaac's professional friend Charlie (Ennis Esmer), his former wife and colleague Rebecca (Kristen Hager), and eventually the senior director of TESS, Dr. Rickman (R. H. Thomson). Though Isaac is the leader, all of them quite properly share the credit at the end. The facilities that are part of the proceedings including the Kepler and TESS telescopes, CalTech, U.Toronto, and SETI, are also quite real.
Even in big-budget market-driven Hollywood there are a few good movies based on real astrophysics -- think Contact (1997), Interstellar (2014), or Arrival (2016) for example. They used the right consultants too. The difference between those films and "Clara" is more a matter of tone and scale -- in an indie film it's less necessary to jack up the tension, drama, and big effects and so it can feel more realistic. And it does. The whole process of research, of following a key idea step by step through getting more and better measurements, interpreting them, and moving on to the next stage, are a little oversimplified but they look and feel real, and they don't tax the audience's patience. The actual Discovery Moments aren't big screen-melting "Eureka!!!" deals either; they're lower-key "hmm, that's odd --" kinds of events that are actually just as dramatic but far more real.
Another important thing: scientists like the protagonist, Isaac Bruno, do research because they are flat-out curiosity driven. They're not doing this for glory or riches. They're doing this because that's who they are. This movie shows that curiosity is a fundamental human driver that can actually compete successfully (as we see) against other basic human drivers like food, sleep, sex, shelter -- you name it. Of the big-budget films that follow the same lines I'd place this one closest to Contact.
The cast is just fine and the two young lead actors Adams and Bellisario are quite good. I'd be happy to see them again in other things. Though the planet-hunting is the scaffolding for the storyline, it's really supposed to be a love story with a very human cycle of awkward engagement, joy, regret, and commitment with no fairy-tale ending. Once again, all of this steers away from Hollywood-style Big Moments. Isaac needs to get fully beyond his recent past history of pain and loss, and Clara has to come to terms with being an unwitting (and probably unwilling) conduit for a Message. My thought is that Clara isn't given a last name because of her somewhat mythic place in the plot, but see what you think when you watch it.
