Spaceman

Adam Sandler crops up as a Czech cosmonaut in a retro sci-fi romantic fantasy that is completely nuts.

Spiders from Mars: A spaced-out Adam Sandler

Just when you think you’ve seen everything, along comes a new Adam Sandler movie. But be warned: this is not an Adam Sandler comedy – at least, not intentionally so. The sincerity of its director Johan Renck cannot be questioned: it is obviously a deeply personal film. What is off-kilter is Adam Sandler’s commitment to the project (although he was reportedly paid $25 million). In essence, it’s the story of a Czech astronaut, Jakub Procházka (Sandler), who befriends a giant spider in outer space. Of course, there’s more to it than that and is presumably intended to be an existential experience.

Jakub Procházka has been trapped within the confines of a Czech spacecraft for six months. He is now 500 million kilometres away from Earth, in search of a mysterious purple cloud that has appeared in the night sky. Proclaimed a heroic explorer by those left behind, he is sustained by the regular video calls he has with his heavily-pregnant wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan). Then the calls stop coming and Procházka starts to question his relationship and how responsible a husband he has been to the love of his life. These troubling thoughts are merely exacerbated by the now-regular repartee he has with the huge alien spider who has become his constant companion…

So is Spaceman a contemplation of madness, loneliness or the fragile, inaccessible connection we have to each other? There is a whiff of Kafka here, snatches of Tarkovsky and even a bit of Bowie in these reflections and with the constant thrum of Max Richter’s solemn music, the film is obviously taking itself very seriously indeed. But this is Adam Sandler, in a spacesuit, chewing the fat with a giant spider. The latter, voiced by Paul Dano in a sepulchral undertone, taunts his new friend – whom he addresses as ‘Skinny Human’ – and calling him out for being self-serving . He (the spider) also sheds light on the cosmic condition by informing us that, “everything is permanent, yet nothing ever is – that is the truth of the universe.”

Hopefully there are some who will embrace the metaphysical weight of this misguided project – just as they did with Vincent Ward’s What Dreams May Come (1998) starring Robin Williams as a soaring soul. But most might see it for what it really is: a self-indulgent vanity project that has completely lost its way. Its director, the Swedish Johan Renck (HBO’s Chernobyl), describes it as largely autobiographical, which really doesn’t help. Even the closing song, Max Richter and Sparks’ ‘Don’t Go Away’, is awful.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Isabella Rossellini, Petr Papánek, Sunny Sandler, and the voice of Paul Dano. 

Dir Johan Renck, Pro Michael Parets, Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan, Timothy Headington, Lia Buman and Max Silva, Screenplay Colby Day, from the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař, Ph Jakob Ihre, Pro Des Jan Houllevigue, Ed Scott Cummings, Simon Smith and John Axelrad, Music Max Richter, Costumes Catherine George and Sarah Dano, Sound Roland N. Thai. 

Tango Entertainment/Free Association/Sinestra-Netflix.
107 mins. 2024. USA/Czech Republic. UK and US Rel: 1 March 2024. Cert. 15.

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