Spaceman – Review

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 47 minutes, Director – Johan Renck

Isolated astronaut Jakub (Adam Sandler) begins to realise the toll that his mission has taken on his marriage, with a giant spider-like creature (Paul Dano) helping him to repair things.

Dialogue throughout Spaceman is somewhat minimal. Aimed to focus on the wise words being dispensed by Paul Dano’s giant spider-like creature Hanuš as he learns about Earth through the memories of Adam Sandler’s astronaut Jakub. For months Jakub has been isolated in space, with limited interaction with those at mission control (largely Kunal Naayar’s Peter) and diminishing contact with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan). It’s this latter relationship which Spaceman aims to focus on as Hanuš notes the fractured marriage between Jakub and Lenka, which it seems the former hasn’t noticed during his months-long mission, and before.

As if to make the words shared between the pair seem wiser Sandler and Dano appear to have been instructed to deliver everything as slowly and softly as possible. After an initial scare at the creature sharing the ship with him – a nightmare early on sees a spider crawl through Jakub’s mouth and nose – the chocolate-spread-loving figure begins to give the “skinny human”, as he refers to Sandler’s character throughout, a social experience akin to therapy. Making him realise the state his marriage is in and then working on how to repair it, both at a rather slow pace.

While initially having hints of Charlie Kaufman in the styling and relationship between man and potential alien, the overall nature of Spaceman brings in an air of tediousness, as if better suited to a short film – even if based on Jaroslav Kalfař’s novel Spaceman Of Bohemia. The style which attempts to bring comfort and peace to Jakub as his emotions and life on Earth catch up with him backfires and means that scenes begin to drag. With not a huge deal of shift it also feels like there’s a stagnant nature to the events which brings a sense of disengagement after a while of little development.

Amongst the unfolding conversation in space we see brief glimpses of Lenka’s life back on Earth. However, it’s hard to connect with Mulligan’s character due to how little we see of her. While just as gradually paced these scenes still feel short and simply there to push Jakub’s isolation from another angle – at the very start of the film he’s confronted with the question of being the loneliest man in the world, before calling his wife to no response.

Things never quite feel as deep as the film perhaps wants to be, and at times thinks it is. While it has one or two moments to help ease it along the overall base feels like it’s relying on the style to push the limited ideas and developments it has. While these could work fine enough, the slowness of the finished product simply means that something potentially meditative feels lacking as it stumbles through itself without going as emotionally in-depth as it could do.

Spaceman starts out with promise and interest, however as it progresses the base conversations never feel as wise or in-depth as the film appears to be aiming for, leading to a disengaging handful of slow-to-develop ideas.