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Lucy in the Sky

Tyler Harlow

Starring: Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Dan Stevens, Zazie Beetz, Pearl Amanda Dickson, Ellen Burstyn, Colman Domingo, Jeffrey Donovan, Tig Notaro, Nick Offerman

Director: Noah Hawley

We open on astronaut Lucy Cola (Portman) as she gets her last glimpse of Earth from space before she returns to civilian life. Once back, she has trouble adjusting, which causes problems with her husband Drew (Stevens) and results in her having an affair with Mark (Hamm). Realizing she needs to be back in space, she enlists for the next mission and begins training, finding herself in a competition with Erin (Beetz). As her mental state continues to deteriorate, Lucy goes to more extreme lengths to ensure she returns to outer space.


The film marks the directorial debut of Noah Hawley, who created FX's Fargo. He does an outstanding job here, having been given a modest budget which he makes the most of. He often messes with the aspect ratio to reflect what state of mind Lucy is currently in. It keeps the film visually interesting when the plot isn't able to keep things afloat.


Unfortunately this happens pretty often, with the exception being the third act, which becomes surprisingly engaging in a very sinister way. It's a shame the rest of the film couldn't reciprocate.


While the acting leans more on the soap opera spectrum, I still enjoyed the performances. Everyone brought what they could to what ultimately felt like shells of characters. Natalie Portman continues to chose interesting roles, and while I didn't dislike Lucy as much as I did Celeste in Vox Lux, her spiral off the deep end feels more cartoonish than character motivated. I also have issues with Dan Stevens' character in this, as his character has a very 'aw shucks' mentality and naivety that doesn't seem real. I do wish that they could have focused more on the daughter played by Pearl Amanda Dickson. She plays a pivotal role in the film but we don't really spend the time with her to understand her character's choices.


It's a shame I didn't like this more. I still hope Noah Hawley continues to get directing gigs because he has real promise. It's just a shame he didn't have a better story to tell here.


C-

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