Director James Gray is making a name for himself by making not quite mainstream films of high quality both in terms of story telling and visual dynamics. Ad Astra might be his magnum opus. Each scene is a gorgeous painting. You could take a snap shot of any frame and hang it on a gallery wall. The art direction and cinematography are astounding. Yet little of that would matter without what is important here, a beautiful and painful little story of huge emotional significance.
Ad Astra is best seen without knowing anything, and I don't give plot details unless they are essential to understanding the critique anyway. But I can say this is a film about fathers and sons or the distance between them, the loss of connection between masculine identified generations. And it's told, as men tell stories, across the entire galaxy. The film's story does take a few cheap shots, requiring us to suspend some disbelief at plot points which are more than unlikely, but I think most will forgive it for the sheer power of the narrative.
This is Pitt's film as hardly any other character has near the screentime he does. The supporting case from to the always compelling Donald Sutherland to the fascinating Ruth Negga all steal their scenes, but it is Pitt who carries this story and does so admirably.
Beautiful and powerful and surprising. Despite its emotional tone, Pitt's calm characterization (a plot point), and a rather plodding pace, Ad Astra is never boring. The film surprises with intense moments of heart racing excitement creating a perfect balance with the somberness of the rest of the film. In so many ways Ad Astra finds just he right balance between all its contradictions.
Ad Astra
Starring: Brad Pitt, Ruth Negga, Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler, Tommy Lee Jones
Director: James Gray
Writers: Ethan Gross, James Gray
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