caisha

There was an awkward moment at the Oscar's ceremony in 2017 when La La Land was announced the best picture only to be overturned a minute later in favor of Moonlight. The latter was a good movie, no doubt, but a year later stood mostly forgotten. While Damien Chazelle's masterpiece is infinitely rewatchable 7 years after and have not lost an inch of it's charm. So I believe the incident at the awards was really a Freudian slip hinting who the real winner was.

La La Land is the kind of movie that reminds me of what Hollywood is capable of when they really put their heart and soul into a project. It's a beautiful love letter to classic musicals while still feeling fresh and new. The best part for me was the performances given by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. They're both so talented, and their chemistry on screen is off the charts.

Imagine a secluded backwater village in medieval times. Then imagine it being filled with all possible human races except maybe for native americans and eskimos. When the trolls suddenly attack and start mowing through this beautifully diverse crowd, it's the women who heroically fight back while men run around and just die. There is also magic in this world but only women are allowed to use it. Because of reasons. Men who dare so are hunted down like beasts by amazonian inquisition corps.

Add to that wooden acting, everyone speaking in snappy one-liners and cheap special effects. And you get a sense of why this show will not last past first season.

Ad Astra is quite an ambitious and multilayered movie. On a surface level it's a grand space adventure: packing interesting action from earth premises to the edge of our solar system. Brad Pit is in his natural waters here and delivers a solid performance. Renderings of outer space are beautiful and accompanied by a chilling soundtrack.

Then there is a deeper psychological level to the film. It's hinted by frequent emotional checkup sequences and flashbacks of the protagonist's father. Many modern viewers might struggle to understand this part. I've read one review where it was summarized as "a stoic, closed-off astronaut with daddy issues".

In my opinion, the key to Ad Astra can be found in a Pinocchio story - it bears striking similarities. Both characters start as fakes and are being manipulated by the society around them. Then they choose to undertake a dangerous journey to the deepest part of the ocean (or the space in this instance) and reunite with the father figure. This allows them to become real and create genuine connections in the world. My only complaint was that Brad had some trouble manifesting this part convincingly - thus not a perfect ten.