Early on in Johan Renck’s Spaceman, a little girl asks Adam Sandler’s astronaut Jakub whether he is the loneliest man in the world. Sandler hesitates before telling her that he is not lonely, and that he will come back after completing his mission. But his hesitation tells a different story. Jakub is far from home, near Jupiter to find out the origins of the particles that constitute the Chopra Cloud. His pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) is eagerly waiting for his return, as he is.
It does not take long for Renck to thrust the audience into the spinning space vessel of Jakub and explore the isolation that envelopes his mind. Of course, you expect nothing less from the man who helmed the series Chernobyl before this.
Spaceman is an existential sci-fi film, but unlike most such genre affairs, its writing almost subverts the usual lonely-astronaut-syndrome template. The director presents portions of Jakub’s hallucination like reality, but shows moments from the his real life like figments of his memory. At some point, a giant spider visits his space vessel. It tells the astronaut that it comes from galaxies and light years beyond in search of solace. Is the spider real? Or is it a manifestation of Jakub losing touch with reality? We never quite figure this out, although we are utterly fascinated.
Paul Dano lends his voice to the spider that often serves as a haunting throwback to the sentient computer HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The actor uses good diction, economy of words and depth of voice to make his character’s interactions with the astronaut meaningful. The way Dano says the spider’s lines makes you feel that it is Jakub’s conscience speaking, shaking up the very roots of his existence. Renck intercuts the conversations between the two with blurry visions of the latter’s past moments with his wife. Through hypnotic frames, Jakub’s reality plays itself out like a hallucinatory chapter from his life.
Spaceman takes its time to tell its story about loneliness while exploring themes such as how an astronaut tries to balance work and family without compromising either, and how much ambition is too much. Although, it is not the first film to do so. But Spaceman is unique in the way it flips the usual lonely-astronaut narrative.
The film is based on Jaroslav Kalfar’s book Spaceman of Bohemia. Mulligan and Sandler effortlessly convey their characters’ yearnings for each other as the sands of time wash away under their feet. At about 100 minutes, it is a slow-burning sci-fi film that requires patient viewing, but your time and investment are duly rewarded.
