The prospect of going to space and leaving behind all problems and a dying Earth is a popular one lately. Apple TV+ has made an entire series (Hello Tomorrow!) revolving around the idea, and Kyra Sedgwick’s directorial feature debut, Space Oddity, is another story where a potential life in outer space functions as a possible remedy. Undoubtedly, there’s an appeal to leaving everything behind, but this heart-warming indie flick argues there are also many reasons (love, family, flowers!) to stick around and try to make the most of this earthy existence with what we already have.
Space Oddity follows Alex McAllister (Kyle Allen) and his farming family who live on a property covered with gorgeous flowers in a friendly American small town. Alex gets up early and trains hard every day because he’s enrolled in a space program that will send him on a one-way mission to Mars. He believes the Red Planet will soon be his new home, where he’ll work, explore, marry, and eventually die. His family suspects the mission program might be a scam, but no one questions his new-found obsession — at least not until his sister Liz (Madeline Brewer) arrives home. Alex calls a family meeting to let everyone know he got through to the next round and won’t be returning to Earth. Apart from his mother, Jane (Carrie Preston), everybody hates the idea (his dad, played by Kevin Bacon, quietly rolls his eyes hearing this while Liz totally freaks out) but goes along with it for some mysterious reason.
Alex isn’t joking, though. He firmly believes the trip will happen and even talks with the local news media about it. While preparing for the journey, he stops in town to get a life insurance policy, which is where he meets cute newcomer Daisy (a lovable Alexandra Shipp). That’s when things get complicated for him as he inevitably falls in love with the charming girl after they go on a date and get to know each other more. As their emerging feelings begin to endanger his Mars-related plan, Alex has a tough time determining whether a new relationship (that has no future) is worth pursuing or if he should leave his loved ones behind at all.
It’s not hard to figure out where all this is going. Space Oddity follows a pretty standard rom-com/family drama structure, so its charm lies in the well-sketched and likeable characters rather than in its predictable narrative. Rebecca Banner’s emotion-heavy screenplay takes its time to introduce and explore Alex’s underlying trauma—and it’s this recent trauma that’s fuelling his need to escape the inescapable.
Thus his family allows him to indulge in a fantasy that might never come true, hoping it’ll help him cope and face those buried feelings. Daisy, however—Alexandra Shipp’s vivacious and tender performance is the heart of the film—challenges the young man to slowly confront his debilitating trauma. She comforts Alex to some extent, but doesn’t hide her disappointment with his decision to run away. Essentially, this is what compels him to open up and unload the emotions he’s been avoiding and hiding from his family and himself.
There’s an affecting mental health approach here as the film untangles Alex’s overwhelming grief and guilt, and the story meticulously sets up a satisfying conclusion. Performances like Shipp’s understanding Daisy or Bacon’s restrained yet intimate farmer dad help a lot. It’s unfortunate that Allen seems the wrong choice for the lead, as he’s unable to truly convey the complex feelings that eat at his character’s soul. His performance is one-dimensional and lacks a certain sensitivity that could effectively channel the harbouring emotions weighing on his heart.
In its third act, Space Oddity fails to maintain and dig deep into the main theme that it navigated so well earlier in the film. We never learn what exactly happened to Alex and so the script falls short, missing the chance to expose the root cause of his inner struggle in detail. Thus Space Oddity settles for a by-the-book happy ending that underlines the power of family, love, and a vague climate change propaganda about Earth. It’s a gratifying and optimistic conclusion, no doubt, but it also leaves us craving for something more profound than an average love story about small-town folks.
Space Oddity is available on VOD/Digital on March 31.
