Adam Sandler quietly released a space drama on Netflix titled Spaceman. The film explores the life of an astronaut Jakub Procházka. At first look, the film talks about his emotional journey of loneliness, but also has deeper themes of capitalism, childhood trauma and more. While it does offer a good perspective on the mental health of a particular character, it does offer a deeper look at under what circumstances people of the current generation are living to take a look at themselves seriously.
The film follows Jakub Procházka, Czech Republic’s first astronaut. While the film begins with him being praised by the world, slowly we find out the awful truth about his life. No matter how rosy it looks on the outside for the world, his life is typical of a millennial – severely affected by the capitalistic world with nothing but dreams of your own to hold on to, which is also based on how much praise one receives.
As the film proceeds, we find out he was raised by his grandparents in the Czech countryside after being abandoned as a young boy. Jakub deals with childhood trauma and the whole who eventually helped him somewhat get through it and face it was his then-girlfriend and now-wife Lenka. But she is now part of the problem in his life. She looks for an emotional connection with him, while he continues to run away. Much of what millennials grew up watching and a behavioural pattern they continue to exercise themselves.
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“Your memories are making me…depressed? But the spread made of hazelnut did make my realization seem less unpleasant.”
Spaceman is now playing. pic.twitter.com/pxg7wklBxk
— Netflix (@netflix) March 3, 2024
A look into the incredible visual effects in Adam Sandler’s Spaceman. Now playing. pic.twitter.com/WEaIA8hsxm
— Netflix (@netflix) March 4, 2024
He is often seen running away from his problems towards work, which gives him external recognition. Unable to give the same to himself, the lack of know-how from childhood rooted him to look for it externally and it eventually leads him to becoming Czech Republic’s first astronaut. But it doesn’t end there, he seeks more and more recognition at his own expense by wanting to complete the mission and find out about the Chopra cloud.
The thing he is willing to risk is not just his life and his ambition, but also his wife’s life, her well-being and the well-being of his future child.
While the details of the film do focus on the scientific discovery a bit, it also sheds light mainly on his emotional journey. The film reflects much of a journey we go through ourselves and how we refuse to take our lives and mental well-being seriously. For one an intergalactic, alien spider has to get involved for the character to actually even be concerned about his mental health.
Until this point, he continued to go on with his days just dealing with it, accepting it as it was at the expense of the people around him. That’s without a doubt the most relatable character right there. More than going to therapy, people would rather prefer staying at home and walking aliens like anime characters, or fiction shows/ movies to help deal with emotions than talk to anyone.
Loved ‘Spaceman’ on Netflix. Won’t be surprised if Adam Sandler gets an Oscar nomination. He’s been wasted as a comic, IMO. Roles like these are his true calling. Gentle, deep, film about an astronaut’s lonely journey towards a mysterious celestial cloud. Do watch. pic.twitter.com/WBd2Ad1zcA
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) March 3, 2024
Netflix and Adam Sandler’s latest #Spaceman isn’t perfect, but you’ll hardly care. What feels like a silly premise turns into an unbelievably sad and touching movie that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to watch this weekend. One of Sandler’s best movies in a while. pic.twitter.com/oRyW4W3iwJ
— Mick Joest (@G33kyMick) March 1, 2024
That brings us to the fact that, despite the spider walking into his spaceship, Jakub refuses to accept it. The film also explores the stages of grief while exploring his mental health. Not only does Jakub, outright deny its existence but also proceeds to express anger when the spider returns to talk about his feelings more. It finally takes him days to come to terms with the existence as a last resort, since the spider would not go away and then the bargaining begins, who gets to go and be where in the spaceship.
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Finally, the depression and acceptance stages take the longest to go through. But in the end, who finally gets him to see the truth isn’t his own pain but the pain of a cute creature that came to his rescue. Sounds familiar?
Cover Image: Instagram
