"Six months in isolation, you start thinking too much."
"Just like you, I fled my planet. Through galaxies, through black holes, I fled through universe, through time, looking for solace. But then I found... you."
— Hanuš
Spaceman is a 2024 science fiction drama film directed by Johan Renck (Chernobyl), based on Jaroslav Kalfař's 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia. The film is distributed through Netflix, and is expected to drop on the platform on March 1st.
Adam Sandler plays Jakub Procházka, the titular Czech spaceman, who is six months into an eight-month long solo mission to explore a mysterious cloud of "intergalactic dust" between Earth and Venus that mysteriously makes the sky purple. However, while stuck in space, Jakub quickly comes to realize that the life — and wife (Carey Mulligan) — he left behind on Earth won't be there when he gets back. Little does he know, he's picked up a stowaway in Hanuš (Paul Dano), a milennia-old alien in the form of a freakishly large spider who is determined to help Jakub sort through his emotional problems before it is too late.
Previews: Official First Look
, Official Trailer
Spaceman contains examples of:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Unlike what happened in the novel, it was implied the film version of Jakub reconciled with his wife Lenka.
- Advertising by Association: After establishing the story's world, the trailer opens with "From Johan Renck, The Director of Chernobyl".
- Aliens Love Human Food: The spider develops a love of chocolate and feeds on it during his stay in Jakub's ship. As he's dying, Jakub offers him another jar to make his final moments more peaceful.
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Hanuš a real, literal alien creature who actually found a kindred spirit in Jakub, or is he meant to be a figment of imagination from Jakub's mind? While the source material and the film director stated that Hanuš is real, it is not so clear-cut on how the film adaptation presented it. Unlike the source material, no one besides Jakub acknowledges Hanuš' existence, although in part due to communications between the space station and earth conveniently broken down most of the time. Besides the initial fright, Jakub doesn't seem overwhelmed by the presence of an intelligent, talking extraterrestrial lifeform and treated him like as if a human stranger had stumbled into his home. Everything Hanuš said and done could easily be interpreted as Jakub's self-reflection while in isolation. Hanuš' initial departure could be seen as Jakub being conscious of his own self-inflicted pain for the first time, while Hanuš' eventual death could be seen as Jakub peacefully acknowledging his own guilt which in turn ended his self-reflection.
- Book Ends: The first scene of the movie shows Jakub in his spacesuit trekking through a river. One of the last scenes reveals that it was a dream where he reunited with his beloved Queen Lenka.
- Bittersweet Ending: After reaching the Chopra, Jakub loses his ship and Hanuš perishes from the Gorompeds. Thankfully, Jakub is rescued by a Korean space crew who welcome him into their ship and allow them to call Lenka. Lenka responds and it's implied that they'll continue their marriage.
- Central Theme: The overarching theme is loneliness and how the main protagonists (Jakub, Lenka and Hanuš) try to cope with it.
- Chekhov's Gun: Jakub tries to uses the ship's decontaminant spray on the giant spider who invaded his ship. In the climax, he uses another canister in a vain attempt to destroy the Gorompeds who were infecting his spider buddy.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Peter mentions to Jakub that a rival Korean space team are on their tail and racing to reach the Chopra first. The Korean teams appears in the end to give Jakub a lift after leaving his ship.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Jakub mentions that he grew up on the countryside and was most likely destined to be a pig farmer like his dad if he didn't pursue his astronaut career. He also mentions that his dad was a communist who organized torture sessions against potential traitors. This went on until his father's enemies murdered him while burning their farmhouse when he was only a teenager.
- Disappointed in You: Realizing that Jakub's loneliness was self-inflicted as he chose to abandon Lanka during her miscarriage, Hanuš loses interest in Jakub and tries to leave.
- The Exact Center of Everything: According to Hanuš, the Chopra gas cloud is said to be the original site where everything first started. When he and Jakub venture inside, it's filled with sounds and activity based around Jakub's life.
- Fake Memories: Played With. Using Hanuš' telepathy, Jakub lives through the moment where Lenka suffered her miscarriage. Even though he wasn't there in person to witness the event, Hanuš explains that his understanding of the situation along with how he perceived Lenka's emotions helped to create that memory for them to live through.
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider: Hanuš' stated goal is to help Jakub work through his baggage, and Paul Dano's soft-spoken performance certainly lends credibility to that.Hanuš: I did not intend to frighten you, skinny human.
- Hates Being Touched: While normally a friendly spider, Hanuš makes it clear that his tribe doesn't approve of physical touch and is prone to aggression when Jakub tries to touch him. But as the bond between them grows, the spider starts to become more accepting of the skinny human's physical hugs.
- Last of His Kind: Hanuš mentions that he's the last member of his tribe after they were wiped out by another species known as the Gorompeds. The spider soon falls victim to the Gorompeds who a revealed to be a colony of parasitic worms.
- Mission Control: Back on Earth, Jakub relies on a scientist named Peter to help him with managing the ship's operations while also keeping him in contact with their team and Lenka.
- Moody Trailer Cover Song: The trailer has a vocal (and later, orchestral) cover of "Moonlight Sonata" underscoring most of the action.
- Must Make Amends: After his selfish actions towards his wife drive away Hanuš, Jakub arranges Peter to contact Lenka so he can openly apologize for his negligence towards her.
- The Needs of the Many: The president of the Czech Space Station purposefully withheld Lenka's last message to Jakub of leaving him stating that his mental health can be severely impacted if he heard the news. Not only would his mental health and life be in jeopardy but also the entire mission and everything he and the team worked hard to achieve.
- No Body Left Behind: Hanuš' entire body is eaten by the Gorompeds who also disappear by the pink lights of the Chopra.
- Pensieve Flashback: Hanuš' telepathy allows him to peer into Jakub's memories at any point in his life to evaluate them.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Twp examples:
- Lenka. Refusing to stick around in a lonely marriage for a man who won't give her the time of day, Lenka tries to flee her home to take shelter in a refuge for pregnant mothers.
- Hanuš. When he realizes that Jakub's loneliness is self-inflicted, he "loses interest" and leaves. When Jakub asks him to stay and help, Hanuš replies "You cannot be helped."
- Tragic Stillbirth: Lenka was revealed to have suffered a miscarriage while Jakub was busy with astronaut training. His cold negligence and willingness to distance himself from her during her hour of need would only create resentment in the would-be mother.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Hanuš constantly refers to Jakub as "skinny human" throughout the movie. The only time he calls him by his true name is when he's about to die in space.
- You Never Asked: Played for Drama. Hanuš returns to the ship only to reveal that he's been slowly dying from the Gorompeds invading his body. After Jakub asks why he never told him, the spider sincerely replies that the astronaut never bothered to ask about him. This is a major stepping stone in Jakub's Jerkass Realization.
"You go where I go, and I go where you go."
