Through Adversity to the Stars

Upon viewing Ad Astra some two years after its initial release, it is not completely surprising that it was a failure at the box office. A film rooted in cinema of the sixties and seventies (you should notice connections to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Apocalypse Now), co-writer and director James Gray (Lost City of Z) takes his time building a familial drama set around space travel.

Not the adrenaline rush that was Gravity, nor containing the outward scope of Interstellar, Gray’s story (which he co-wrote with Ethan Gross) looks inward at a man struggling with the bond he has with his father. This man is Roy McBride (Brad Pitt), a successful Major who has always lived in the shadow of his legendary father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones – perfect casting) – the man to lead the Lima Project to the outer reaches of our solar system (specifically Neptune) to do research on possible extraterrestrial life.

Leaving his wife and son behind, nothing has been heard of from the team in sixteen years. . . since their arrival at the blue planet. With dangerous antimatter surges coming from the direction of Neptune threatening Earth, top military brass are hypothesizing that McBride Sr. might just be alive.

With these higher ups asking Roy to go on a secret mission (that will take him to the moon. . . where he will then launch to Mars), his goal will be to plea with his father to make communications with human civilization once more. A complicated ask for Roy (though he is basically not allowed to say no), he has bottled up all of his emotions for so very long. Known for his low heartbeat (it has never gone above 80), he is like an impenetrable shell, an unhealthy and near inhuman being. It has led to the dissolution of his marriage with Eve (Liv Tyler) and a life in which he has no true bond with any human being.

Under the guidance of Thomas Pruitt (Donald Sutherland) – a man who knew his father, he will be his liaison for this mission. Roy will also come into contact with Helen Lantos (Ruth Negga) – a woman who has a secret bond with the man, as well as fellow astronauts Donald Stanford (Loren Dean), Lawrence Tanner (Donnie Keshawarz), Franklin Yoshida (Bobby Nish), and Lorraine Deavers (Kimberly Elise), though each of these people will only be a blip on the radar as he attempts to achieve his greater goal – to make contact with his father.

Echoing his own father, this is the type of film that really helps you understand the saying ‘sins of the father’, for Roy very much emulates Clifford in everything he has done in life. They are like those men of the twentieth century who didn’t believe in showing emotion, that wouldn’t hug their sons, letting their wives deal with such unmanly things. These reverberations are self-evident. . . for instance, Roy following his father’s footsteps in life, looking for approval from someone who will never give it, as well as the above mentioned marital issues. To some, it might start to feel a bit like “Heart of Darkness”, an absurdly eerie journey into madness, imperial-like control, and stubborn insanity. . . you start to wonder what exactly Roy will discover if he reaches Neptune and finds his father.

A narrative that is not meant to provide you with rewarding answers and solutions to such problems, the conclusion will likely frustrate some, though it is true to these characters. Despite this, it still does give us some worthwhile information – that we must look to each other for love and life, as well as for the betterment of society. What is the good of looking to the outer reaches of space unless it is to help us improve our own humanity, as well as our lives and relationships.

A visually scrumptious motion picture, Ad Astra (this review’s title is a translation of the longer Latin saying ‘Per Aspera Ad Astra’) is the type of slow burner that will likely not appeal to some modern viewers, yet is rewarding for those looking for a meandering journey through a fractious filial relationship. With a stellar pastiche created by the fantastic Hoyte Van Hoytema (Christopher Nolan’s go-to cinematographer), each strand of light will add depth of emotion to this familial drama, while Gray’s vision of outer space adds a heartbreaking loneliness to these characters’ lives. So, find space for this picture in your viewing schedule, the adversity you meet within it might just propel you to the stars.