Lucy in the Sky (2019)
Stars: Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz
Runtime: 124 minutes
Synopsis: Astronaut Lucy Cola returns to Earth after a transcendent experience during a mission to space, and begins to lose touch with reality in a world that now seems too small.
Performances: 5/10
Screenplay: 3/10
Special Effects: 6/10
Costumes/Makeup: 6/10
Editing: 3/10
Cinematography: 4/10
Score/Soundtrack: 5/10
Verdict: I guess the best way to describe Noah Hawley's directorial effort would be to compare it to someone's first attempt at making a balloon animal. I hope I don't sound too mean with this juxtaposition, but "Lucy in the Sky" felt empty on the inside and was at the same time a stylistic mess on the outside.
Hawley is most known for his work on the small screen, where his writing skills resulted in hits such as "Legion", "Fargo", or "Bones". For his jump to the big screen, he chose to adapt the true story of astronaut Lisa Nowak, who was involved in a scandal after her return to Earth from a trip to space.
On paper, the story truly is one that could've easily resulted in a fascinating character study, but unfortunately Hawley chose to throw his focus on the film's style rather than its substance. And the end result was a messy, obnoxious, nonsensical portrayal of a very unlikable, two-dimensional, character that is impossible to relate to. Portman tries to do her best with a very flat script that doesn't really work, but to me still gives one of the weakest performances I've seen from her in a while. Hawley's main gimmick for this movie was to change the aspect ratio in almost every scene, and for the life of me I couldn't understand the point of that odd decision. It was distracting, it didn't add anything to the narrative, and it was made pretty clear that the whole movie was going to rely on that stylistic choice to separate itself from other space movies, or even other movies in general. And I'm not going to lie, it did exactly that, but I'm certainly not going to remember it as one that changed the filmmaking industry for the better. Quite the opposite in fact.
Hawley is most known for his work on the small screen, where his writing skills resulted in hits such as "Legion", "Fargo", or "Bones". For his jump to the big screen, he chose to adapt the true story of astronaut Lisa Nowak, who was involved in a scandal after her return to Earth from a trip to space.
On paper, the story truly is one that could've easily resulted in a fascinating character study, but unfortunately Hawley chose to throw his focus on the film's style rather than its substance. And the end result was a messy, obnoxious, nonsensical portrayal of a very unlikable, two-dimensional, character that is impossible to relate to. Portman tries to do her best with a very flat script that doesn't really work, but to me still gives one of the weakest performances I've seen from her in a while. Hawley's main gimmick for this movie was to change the aspect ratio in almost every scene, and for the life of me I couldn't understand the point of that odd decision. It was distracting, it didn't add anything to the narrative, and it was made pretty clear that the whole movie was going to rely on that stylistic choice to separate itself from other space movies, or even other movies in general. And I'm not going to lie, it did exactly that, but I'm certainly not going to remember it as one that changed the filmmaking industry for the better. Quite the opposite in fact.
FINAL GRADE: 3/10
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