Ad Astra

Gray further develops the theme of dysfunctional communication between immediate family members. They are unable to establish a dialogue because they escape into their own individual worlds and stay in their usual models of existence. Though Gray remains thematically and stylistically consistent, his view is more ambitious from film to film, while the protagonists’ ambitions grow accordingly. The distance that they had to overcome in an effort to find common ground was previously insurmountable only in a figurative sense. In Ad Astra, the distances between the protagonists are literally astronomical. This brought about a reinforcement of the main idea of Gray’s filmography – regardless of how far we roam, a place that gives meaning to our existence will always be in reach. ___ Recurring reservations about Gray’s latest work have a paradoxical nature. Critics admonish the film for not eliciting a stronger emotional response because of its monotonousness and ponderousness, while also saying that it is too literal, too obviously predictable and banal in its message. It’s as if they couldn’t see that the tension between the emotional distance on the one hand and the effort to share as much as possible on the other hand is the driving force of the film as well as its crucial distinguishing element. This duality is reflected as early as in the introductory action scene. The impression of vertigo evoked by the sight of a falling body and the POV shots contrasts with the icy calm of McBride, who matter-of-factly informs his commanders how he intends to handle the situation. The fact that he reacts to a lethally hazardous situation as if he has nothing to lose offers a relatively precise image of the main protagonist. ___ The uncertainty under whose influence the protagonist deviates from the mission’s objective is initially reflected in the words, actions and facial expressions of the supporting characters and later in Roy’s voiceover. The spectacular expedition to obtain knowledge gradually transforms into intimate family therapy. The film increasingly shifts from action to introspection, from broad strokes to details. This stylistic development corresponds to the growing scepticism with which Ad Astra frames heroic deeds. Acts of heroism performed only to satisfy one’s own ego or as a means of avoiding seemingly banal relationship commitments are, from the film’s viewpoint, a path to loneliness and social isolation. During the protagonist’s odyssey, people and animals die for no reason and, in the end, the main benefit of Roy’s mission is not finding the lost patriarch. He must go through this in order to reveal the reality concealed behind the myth that has been created around his father. ___ Roy uses an idealised image of himself based on his father’s upbringing as a shield against reality. Therefore, it is important that we have access to his concept of himself and can see or, as the case may be, hear how he gradually becomes disturbed by facts that do not correspond to the mythologised image of his father. Due to the pathological introversion of the protagonist, Gray decided to use a voiceover, which reflects Roy’s feelings in the present tense, not retrospectively, and thus continuously takes his character development into account. However, Roy’s detached tone of voice and the lack of passion in the sentences he utters do not primarily indicate strict work discipline, but rather his emotionally anesthetised state. He is incapable of openly communicating with others and talks to himself as if to the computer terminal in front of which he has to undergo regular psychological evaluations. He is inspected both internally and externally. ___ A certain warmth is present only in brief flashes of memories of his mother and former partner, for whom Roy was never fully present because he clung too tightly to his father’s legacy. Also, when questioned about his father’s disappearance during a work briefing, he symptomatically recalls not how he reacted to the event, but how his mother reacted. The fleeting presence of women in the narrative is legitimised by the filtering of all events through the perspective of a man who is unable to connect with his own emotions, let alone those of his loved ones. Roy mistakenly seeks understanding from his father, whom he admires for his career successes. In Roy’s voice-over, the two men merge from the beginning, when he derives his own worth from doing his own job well. However, the person who anchors him in the present, who defines the beginning and end of his story, is a woman, who represents his future, as she brings him back to life. ___ The way the film is constructed does not in fact needlessly double the message that it conveys. We do not hear offscreen what we see, but we see what Roy sees and perceives. Together with flashbacks, the parallel narration of various stories layers the seemingly straightforward monomyth about the protagonist’s journey, thus making it diverse and stimulating. The structure sets the text and the subtext against each other by maintaining distance from the hero and letting him comment on his changing position in the heroic narrative. Gray did not make a film that was spiritual or poetic, but one that is especially intellectual, particularly by revitalising the basic building blocks of adventure stories. Layer by layer, the film unmasks the heroic myth in order to show, based on the example of one flawed hero, how unstable the myth’s foundations are and thus it has to work on a different principle than that of traditional Hollywood genre movies, which merely recycle the myth. Ad Astra offers an emotionally powerful experience not in spite of its subdued nature, but precisely because of it. 90% (01/04/2021) (less) (more)