FILM OF THE WEEK
ASTRONAUT (PG, 96 mins) Drama/Romance/Sci-Fi. Richard Dreyfuss, Krista Bridges, Lyriq Bent, Richie Lawrence, Colm Feore, Graham Greene, Art Hindle, Jennifer Phipps, Joan Gregson. Director: Shelagh McLeod. Released today (streaming and available to download from Amazon Prime Video, BT TV Store, Google Play, iTunes, Rakuten, Sky Store, TalkTalk TV Store, Virgin Media)
OSCAR winner Richard Dreyfuss shoots for the stars again in writer-director Shelagh McLeod's modest directorial debut, a sweet and moving character study about a widower with a failing heart, who is gifted an outlandish chance to become the first commercial passenger in space.
With its snappy, self-explanatory title, Astronaut teasingly promises to go interstellar with its septuagenarian hero. Alas, in the final countdown, McLeod's script remains resolutely earthbound and undermines some of Dreyfuss' excellent work with uneven pacing and strained plausibility.
While some narrative detours ring hollow, the New York-born leading man (now 72 years young) doesn't strike a single false note as he nimbly navigates his character's grief, despair and loneliness.
Any saltwater trickles down viewers' faces – mine included – are testament to his ability to find emotional truth in the uneven writing.
Retired civil engineer Angus Stewart (Dreyfuss) shared a dream of travelling into space with his wife Rosie. Now she is gone, finally free from the vice-like grip of dementia, all that remains is for Angus to follow the sobering advice of his physician: "Keep up the good fight, because what's the alternative?"
Faced with crippling debts run up by Rosie, Angus moves in with his daughter Molly (Krista Bridges), son-in-law Jim (Lyriq Bent) and grandson Barney (Richie Lawrence). While Jim patronises the old man and eventually nudges Angus out of the family nest into Sundown Valley Manor retirement home, whippersnapper Barney cherishes precious time with his grandfather staring up at the stars.
The tyke is delighted when Angus enters a lottery run by billionaire entrepreneur Marcus Brown (Colm Feore) to win a seat on the first commercial flight into space. Miraculously, Angus's name is chosen at random for a public vote of 12 finalists.
Astronaut is a showcase for Dreyfuss' twinkly-eyed charm and he repeatedly delivers, including some touching scenes with young co-star Lawrence while Bridges and Bent are solid in undernourished supporting roles.
The machinations of the final 30 minutes feel forced and McLeod clearly doesn't have the technical wizardry at her disposal to blast us off into dizzying orbit.
6/10
:: SEA FEVER (15, 90 mins) Horror/Thriller/Sci-Fi/Romance. Hermione Corfield, Elie Bouakaze, Ardalan Esmaili, Olwen Fouere, Jack Hickey, Connie Nielsen, Dougray Scott, Dag Malmberg. Director: Neasa Hardiman. Released today (streaming and available to download from Amazon Prime Video, BT TV Store, Google Play, iTunes, Rakuten, Sky Store, TalkTalk TV Store, Virgin Media, Xbox)
THE ragtag crew of an Irish fishing boat goes into self-quarantine after a close encounter with a tentacled, bioluminescent organism in writer-director Neasa Hardiman's slow-burning thriller.
Tapping into timely concerns about isolation, self-preservation and mental well-being, Sea Fever dredges Alien and The Abyss for its initial dramatic set up while Hardiman's script clings like a barnacle to cold logic.
While some on board are intent on heading home, potentially carrying an infection that could wipe out Ireland and quickly spread to Britain, a single voice of reason – a misfit doctoral student played by Hermione Corfield – urges self-restraint for the greater good.
"We have to take responsibility," she demands, echoing the messaging of governments in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Corfield's softly spoken woman of science is a likeable if underwritten heroine in the grip of water-logged terror. Her marine biology student, Siobhan, is a socially awkward loner who prefers the company of microscopes and Petri dishes to human beings.
Intending to photograph anything the crew catches and identify anomalies to inform her doctorate, Siobhan boards the fishing vessel Niamh Cinn Oir skippered by Gerard (Dougray Scott) and his wife Freya (Connie Nielsen), who need a big haul to keep the debtors at bay. Unfortunately, Siobhan is a redhead and, thus, a bad omen to the superstitious sea-faring crew.
Tensions are stoked when Gerard secretly charts a course into an exclusion zone, forbidden to fishing crews, and the boat collides with something gargantuan lurking beneath the waves.
6/10
