It’s been a great couple of weeks for movie trailers, huh? We got a first look at Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, while John Wick: Chapter 3 graces us with more sublimely choreographed action (with doggies!). Toy Story 4 is now a more fully-formed thing that I still don’t know what to feel about, though seeing Bo Peep in adventurer getup does warm the heart.
The trailer that stood out for me to most, peculiarly enough, is Lucy in the Sky.
It’s not just because it looks well-made as heck, with a solid cast of 100%-givers (Natalie Portman is, as usual, shining here) and trippy imagery, but also because it’s the rare movie that explores the allure of space and how it can affect us psychologically.
Most films like to depict space as terrifying, and for good reason. It’s a cruel, cold place that humans aren’t supposed to thrive in. One of the strengths of Alfonso Quaron’s Gravity is its ability to make its vastness and blackness constricting – an enormity so immense that it becomes suffocating.
“I think I can see my house from here.”
Lucy in the Sky seems to be operating on the opposite scale, though. Natalie Portman’s Lucy goes to space and comes back to find Earth restricting and cramped. The immensity of space, it seems, feels more like freedom for Lucy.
I like how the trailer signifies this by placing scenes of Lucy’s everyday life on Earth in a boxed aspect ratio, while scenes of her in space (or any sort of liberating action, it would seem) appears in widescreen. It’s not certain if the movie will maintain the same visual metaphor, but I like the touch.
Lucy in the Sky is the directorial debut of Noah Hawley, best known for writing and directing several episodes of the Fargo TV-series and Legion. Hopefully he’ll reach new heights with this. For now, I’m all high for the movie.
I guess, in space, your life can turn upside down and you wouldn’t know it
Also published on Medium.
makes it a life goal to annoy everyone with random Disney trivia. When he’s not staring at a screen or holding a controller of some sort, he is thinking about curry noodles. Like right now.
