🎬 #221 Pure Joy.
I have been gushing to everyone about this film and now you guys have to face it too.
Please enjoy
Bry
FILM: PROJECT HAIL MARY
2026
Dir Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
2 hrs 36 mins
The title of this newsletter really says it all. Since I caught this on Amazon a couple of days ago, I’ve been raving to everyone about it, and I’m truly sad I missed it in the cinema because I can only imagine it amplifying the experience at least tenfold. It is truly a lesson in simplicity and writing, not just writing but taut writing. There’s not a redundant scene in this film and the editing and the pace all whirl you through the story brilliantly, like someone being led by a very confident and competent dance partner spinning through space, lofted by pure feel-good, science fiction / action energy.
As you’d expect from a film based on an Andy Weir book, the story is smart, it’s funny, and Gosling was made to play this character. It’s the perfect channel for his brilliant comedic performances and just his pure charisma. He plays an everyman, someone who never wanted to be a hero and yet finds himself in this spectacular position.
In fact, at various points throughout the film, he reiterates the idea that he doesn’t want to rise to the challenge, he doesn’t want an occasion to rise to - in fact he’s a highly qualified scientist - choosing to teach science at school, somewhere he can feel safe. His delivery and timing of his delivery of his lines and actions is just fantastic. It’s such a pleasure to watch him be that good and relishing every moment. He’s in every single scene in the film, and he leads it fantastically well.
The choice of framing, the lighting, and just the design of the environments on display make the film very believable. Everything is tactile and ‘normal,’ for lack of a better word. It’s practical and technical in the technical spaces we veer into. The production design, everything contributes to the sense of a world that you really buy into. It’s not fantastical in any way, and yeah, you buy it completely. Every scene is art directed brilliantly. Everything feels very real, very lived in. Greig Fraser’s camera work really adds to that sense as well. Nothing is too pristine. It’s a very textured image, he’s letting light fall away naturally. Doesn’t feel too clean, which I think a lot of films can fall prey to, so you really are presented with an image that is utterly believable. Which sets up the more ‘extraordinary’ elements which come later. And I don’t want to spoil those but this is to say that it’s in those scenes that the heart of the film lives. It’s awesomely wonderful, warm filmmaking.