To the Stars (Ad Astra): Lost in the Stars

After the slums of New York (We own the rightsAnd the Little Odessa) or amazonThe Lost City of Z), James Gray takes us to the near future at the edge of space, to Neptune, where a son (Brad Pitt) is tasked with finding the lost mission led by his father (Tommy Lee Jones).

Undoubtedly an amazing movie.

spatial introspection

on paper, and in the first minutes (the electrical overload of Neptune destabilizes an antenna on Earth), Ad Astra Slaps from an amazing and impressive science fiction movie. But we’re with author James Gray, and very quickly, the film surprises, rather than plunges into the troubled and haunted psyche of Roy McBride, an engineer still bruised by his father’s disappearance.

And if in others (Christopher Nolan, hello), tears and brief philosophy are invoked, in Gray, sadness and introspection are what make deep space vibrate.

hard and deep

A velvet and sad novel, the loneliness of a would-be anti-depressant, a space already ravaged by the same mistakes humans were trying to escape, exquisitely composed shots with agonizing texture (signed by the great cinematographer Hoyt van Hoetema): Ad Astra Not one of those movies that you consume without thinking about it.

But it is a great cinematic work, complementing the great theme of its author (relationship with the father, again and again) while offering its patient audience a reward worthy of the name: turning it upside down into the depths of his being that nurtures a densely spiritual approach to what survival, unity and the destiny of humanity are, in addition to being a great film And sad about mourning.

Brad Pitt exceptional

Already as a businessman apathetic in Once upon a time in HollywoodThe actor reminded us why he is one of the last living movie stars. Attendance, charisma, evocative simplicity: Brad Pitt knows the song. But in Ad AstraIt’s another performance he draws.

Delicate, intricate, leaving his face reflecting inwardly moving in a few jerks, it’s the backbone of this film that expresses his powerful idea through its silhouette alone: ​​Only humans will survive alone by accepting an idea he never did.

Ad Astra on ICI Télé, September 4, 11:05 p.m.

Trailer (Source: YouTube)