The appropriately odd-looking Asa Butterfield is cast as Gardner Elliot, the first human being born on Mars, in an ultimate emo romance fantasy that might just as well have been titled The Perks of Being a Mars Baby. The loneliest teen in the universe, Gardner, orphaned when his astronaut mother (Janet Montgomery) dies giving birth to him, is restricted to the planet of his birth because his heart and bones, having developed in the gravity of Mars, are unsuited to life on Earth. Consequently, he lives and mopes among the scientists living on Mars but strikes up a touching internet correspondence with Tulsa (Britt Robertson), an alienated high school girl living back in the States. Eventually, after surgical modifications allow Gardner to make to journey to Earth, he of course rejects being grounded by NASA and hatches a plan to escape, meet Tulsa, and track down his father, about whom he knows nothing. Robertson is too attractive to be convincing as a high school outcast, but does create a tear-jerkingly irresistible chemistry with Mr. Butterfield, who is perfect as the quintessential socially awkward Gen-Z outcast hothouse flower. Gary Oldman, too, is commendably present as the complicated elder statesman of the Mars program. A sweet film, and heartily recommended to angst-ridden teens of all ages.
5 stars. Ideological Content Analysis indicates that The Space Between Us is:
5. Class-conscious. Blue-collar Tulsa steals a BMW, confident that the presumably wealthy owner can afford the loss.
4. Family-ambivalent. The horror of Sarah Elliot’s childbirth scene is arguably antinatalist; but the film is largely concerned with the hole left in young people’s lives by the absence of conventional family structures.
3. Green. The exposition suggests that the likelihood ecological catastrophe on Earth could serve as a motivator for colonization of other planets. Wind turbines, meanwhile, illustrate the availability of alternative energy sources.
2. Capital-ambivalent. Sam’s Club, Tulsa explains, is like shopping a million stores at once with a trillion dollars to spend. In other words, she appreciates the cheap goods that neoliberalism has made available to the consumer. Gardner becomes ill during a visit to Las Vegas, however, when he is confronted with the dark side of globalization. Gaudy imitations of world cities thrown together in one neon hodge-podge disorient him and prompt him to observe that these things are not supposed to exist side-by-side. During this same sequence, Gardner appears to be horrified at the sight of a mulatto child.
1. Sexist! The Space Between Us seems at first glance to be promoting feminism with its depiction of a valiant female astronaut leading a trailblazing Mars expedition. It quickly undermines this deception, however, by having her turn out to be secretly pregnant, demonstrating that men and women bring different liabilities to the workplace.
“Gardner appears to be horrified at the sight of a mulatto child”.
Hey, I can relate!
Glad to see Oldman is still working. I don’t remember the details, but last I heard he was in hot water with his semitic overlords.
Yeah, he had to issue a mea culpa for making some innocuous micro-aggression. I don’t even remember what it was now.
I guess Mars’ colonization is now more believable than the Moon’s (boring!). To NASA’s HIdden Figures: how many blankets and hot cocoas you need to pack to a survive Martian winter? (-112 to -193F° outside, brrrr!).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Mars#Historical_climate_observations
Oldman defended Mel Gibson’s rant (in vino veritas) in a Playboy interview. Mea culpas, letter-writing to the ADL, sackcloth and ashes, the usual epilogue.
I think this one deserves the Icare treatment:
https://feministacademiccollective.com/2016/11/30/did-i-just-pay-to-support-an-anti-abortion-film-nocturnal-animals-and-tom-fords-gender-politics/
I might check it out. It’s I.C.A., by the way, as in I.C.A. Reviews.
I know, but somehow I think icare seems closer to the mark☺
It’s pretty decent to boot. Only a prominent gay could get away with a crypto-natalist, big-budget Hollywood project.
Hey, do you remember that movie about the necrophiliacs who meet in the mortuary?
I can’t remember the name of it. I think you recommended it to me.
If you can think of any other movies dealing with necro crap, please share the titles with me.
I think you’re referring to Love Me Deadly (1973) if it’s the one where the homo gets embalmed alive. Other necro movies? Well, there’s an Italian one called Beyond the Darkness (1980) and just a tiny bit of necro action in Angel (1984), but by far the most famous is Nekromantik (1987), a really gross German movie.
Thanks!
There’s also a sequel to Nekromantik, but I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know if it’s even worthwhile. The others I mentioned are decent flicks (at least in terms of providing some entertainment value).
Hey, I’m not interested in actually seeing any of this sick shit, I was just doing research for an DA post!
Corpses are gross a f!
Seriously, I think it’s a normal reaction to fell repulsed by rotting cadavers. Of course this is precisely why the jooz keep trying to normalize this kind of thing.
Have you ever gotten a good whiff of a decomposing corpse? You’d puke yourself skinny!
I’ve smelled other dead animals rotting on a summer day, which I image approximates the aroma. What I see more of than necrophilia at the movies (which I regard as mostly a shock value item) is this robotic stuff. Puppet sex and cybernetic love dolls, that sort of thing.
Really?
What movies did you see that stuff in?
Here are a few examples:
I never heard of any of those.
I don’t think that last movie, “Circuitry Man” looked all that erotic.
The male lead in the film is supposed to be an android. He’s programmed for devotion to a particular woman and to be the most perfectly passionate and considerate lover.
Oh? He looked kind of scary in the trailer.
Not Plughead, the bad guy; I mean the mild-mannered wimpy good guy.
oh
I guess there are several robots in the trailer. I was talking about the crazy one with all the tubes and stuff coming out of his head.
That’s Plughead. The actor is Vernon Wells, who also played the villains in the Schwarzenegger movie Commando and the Mad Max sequel The Road Warrior.
ur review is nice, simple, and easy to read..