ARTNEWSPRESS: PLOT: An astronaut (Natalie Portman) returning to earth after a mission has trouble making sense of her earthbound life and falls into a self-destructive relationship with another NASA vet (Jon Hamm).
REVIEW: Showrunners as feature-film directors are never a sure thing. For every J. J. Abrams or Joss Whedon, there’s a Ryan Murphy (who struck out with RUNNING WITH SCISSORS and EAT, PRAY, LOVE) or Matthew Weiner (whose ARE YOU HERE was virtually unreleasable). Add Noah Hawley to the list of ones that couldn’t make the leap to the big screen, at least not on his first try, with LUCY IN THE SKY a clumsy potboiler that’s perhaps good as camp but certainly won’t fulfil the ambitions a spot on the fall schedule and a berth at TIFF suggest they have for it at Fox Searchlight.
Hawley’s been let off the chain here, but it’s an overloaded first feature, framed by a showy, vacuous decision to keep shifting aspect ratios, something that happens constantly throughout the 124 minutes running time, and proves to be a major distraction in a character-driven drama. Another movie here at TIFF, WAVES, did it with more style and restraint, but Hawley goes all in on a gimmick that never works.
In the end though, that’s the least of the movie’s problems. It’s anchored by a Natalie Portman performance that borders on high camp, with her affecting a southern accent and sporting a pageboy haircut that, like the ratios, simply serves as a distraction. The film starts strong, with Portman expertly conveying her character’s wonderment, but when they get down to earth the problems start.
For one thing, she seems to have a really hard time playing unhinged. For those who don’t know, the movie is based on the very-tabloid friendly story of astronaut Lisa Nowak, although its fictionalized to some degree. Perhaps this could have made for a good psychological drama, but Hawley shows no restraint whatsoever. He’s always going for big moments and climaxes, which gives the film a ridiculous quality. You eventually wind up feeling like you’re watching a particularly expensive Lifetime original movie with A-list stars.
Portman is only as good as her material here, and she plays it to the hilt, making her character next to impossible to invest in as she never feels real. Likewise, Dan Stevens is too one-note a goody-goody as her nice guy hubby. Only Jon Hamm fares well as arguably the most interesting character, a NASA bad boy who gets a few moments of introspection, like when he watches footage of the Challenger explosion on a loop before suiting up for a mission. Ellen Burstyn also pops up as Portman’s grandmother in a role that feels extraneous, but similar to Ann Dowd in the recent THE KITCHEN, she seems to be the only one aware of how campy the movie she’s in really is.
It’s too bad that Hawley’s debut has gone on to become so reviled here at TIFF (only THE GOLDFINCH fared worse with reviewers), as his work on the small screen is great, with “Fargo” one of the best shows of our era. Safe to say, he’s conquered long-form story-telling, but movies prove to be a challenge he hasn’t yet mastered.
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Chris Bumbray
