At the end of AD ASTRA (Interstellar Exploration) , two audience members were discussing:
- "He has no nostalgia, and he doesn't care. Family, affection or anything else means nothing to him."
- "There is family affection, love, and everything in it, but there is no science fiction."
- "Too depressing."
He is right, and his understanding of the characteristics of the film and the motives of the characters is correct.
But AD ASTRA is not repression, it is release.
Roy's state is the state of many people: self-isolation, keeping a distance, and maintaining stability can avoid harm to the greatest extent. It is a personal pursuit, but also a need of the environment. He does not identify with his work, cannot find joy, and is reluctant to develop deeper connections with others. He also suppressed and controlled his anger and powerlessness, did not let his emotions get out of control, took on his own responsibilities, and completed his work efficiently and accurately.
NASA, the obvious universal representative, who doesn't fully agree with its rules but needs to follow them is not only Roy, the fearful and hesitant lieutenant, born and raised on Mars, who has only been to Earth once, but was killed in his own base. The head of the base who says the authority is not enough... When there is a difference in values, what was once regarded as the standard will become a gallows that cannot be mutually agreed in the blink of an eye.
And his father, as an individual, is at the other extreme: in order to find personal value and meaning, he pursues and tests frantically, never accepts the possibility of failure, and does not accept all meaningless possibilities. "There is life outside the solar system", "I must buy a house in Beijing", "I must have a child", "I must fall in love" "..." is "his" creed and personal value.
On the other hand, he is a social connection that Roy cannot escape, an unavoidable source of influence. Roy has to relate to his father and has to keep dealing with words like "You are ***'s son" "Your father is the reason I became a astronaut." He was the inevitable influence Roy had to face and avoid.
This is not a science fiction film or a family film, this is a documentary about some people.
The dilemma that Roy encounters is the dilemma that everyone is experiencing; NASA is the social rule that covers everyone; and his father is not a "father", it is a social responsibility that everyone has to bear, and a social responsibility that everyone must bear. The fulfillment of a certain obligation is the goal of existence before a person truly discovers his own mission.
On the way to Neptune in search of "father", it is like advancing in a lake where no light can be seen - "my" goal, there is a rope to rely on, no future in sight.
To put it a little further, every time on foot, countless dreams, and countless times on the screen, facing the majestic nature and universe, you will naturally perceive your own insignificance and helplessness, followed by nothingness. feel. The sense of nothingness is the contradiction between fact and ideal: giving meaning to things that are meaningless in themselves is destined to end in tragedy.
It is a commonplace saying that "we" just exist, and perhaps the time axis will be extended, and the group "human" will write a stroke in the history of the earth, but for individuals, we just exist, exist, live, are A state where "state" has no mission and no meaning.
It is like a psychological evaluation that seems to be warm, and a soothing room that seems to be human. For the so-called "greater goals", individuals are just pawns, who should move closer to mechanization, the executors who are quantitatively evaluated and treated, and the labor that is sent by cheap rewards.
And the so-called human goal, is it the goal of "me"?
James Gray said he did not have the editing rights and that the last 40 seconds of the film was not his ending, but his ending was in the movie.
AD ASTRA gives an answer: for individuals, what is important is the connection we have with those around us. The camera stops at Roy's girlfriend.
But isn't the so-called "connection" another kind of stealing?
Let's face it, tear the inveracious peace apart!
If you have to find some value, at least when Roy says "Why keep going?", someone will burst into tears - the world is out of control, people are being coerced into becoming worse, a person is too young Powerless, but at least, there are people who are also extremely distressed by this, angry and disappointed by this, and even when they experience a little bit of kindness, or just unwillingness, they also hope to do something to bring even a little bit of it. change.
"Why keep going?"
"I don't care anymore."
End here, just right.
——The so-called duty of an artist is to find a way to combat meaninglessness.
Good night, you are not alone in suffering.
Fragments at the end.
The theme of the movie is very good, and the aesthetics of the picture, the soundtrack and the lines are all very good. The stamina is very large. But in the plot, the protagonist's halo is too unreasonable and must be complained about.
Everything is balanced, and the plot and so-called technology and scientific logic are part of judging a movie, but some works look at technology, and some works look at expression. One dimension has shortcomings, but other dimensions are valuable, and the overall degree of completion is high enough, it is worthy of recognition.
recommend.
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