Adam Sandler plays a sad cosmonaut in “Spaceman.” A giant space spider helps him through his loneliness.
A cosmonaut on a lonely, months-long mission to an inexplicable nebula – that’s what the new Netflix film with Adam Sandler (“Child Heads”) and Carey Mulligan (“The Great Gatsby”) is about. The space drama “Spaceman”, which can be seen on the streaming platform from March 1st, is above all the story of a deeply lonely man who literally isolates himself from the people around him.
The film is based on the 2017 Czech novel “A Short History of Bohemian Space Travel” by Jaroslav Kalfař and celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale in mid-February.
Adam Sandler can also do serious roles
Adam Sandler appears in “Spaceman” in a role that is unusual for him, as he always plays idiots in Hollywood films. In this he shows that he can also play serious roles. He appears as Czech cosmonaut Jakub Procházka, who travels alone in a spaceship for months to investigate the mysterious Chopra Nebula behind the planet Jupiter. “What is it like to be the loneliest person in the world?” Jakub is aptly asked right at the beginning of the film by a girl who has joined in. The emptiness of space also seems to reign within him.
Because in flashbacks it becomes clear that Jakub has difficulty opening up to his own wife, Lenka. Jakub left Lenka, played by Carey Mulligan (38, “The Great Gatsby”), alone when she suffered a miscarriage with her first child. And while she is carrying her second child, he is floating through space. Lenka calls him Spaceman – which on the one hand can be understood as a cosmonaut, but on the other hand also as a man who leaves a lot of space between himself and others. Space as a setting is also metaphorical: Jakub is completely alienated because he doesn’t let anything or anyone get close to him. In this role – similar to Daisy in “The Great Gatsby” – Mulligan is primarily a projection surface for a man.
A spider as an outgrowth of the subconscious
The moment Lenka breaks off communication with Jakub, he seems to lose his mind. In his dream, a spider crawls out of his head, which he sees in all its glory the next morning. Paul Dano (“The Fabelmans”) lends his voice to the massive insect in the original English language. It can be understood as an outgrowth of Jakub’s subconscious, which accompanies him in understanding himself.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
