Starman (1984)

 

Welcome to one of the more different films that director John Carpenter has ever made. No focus on goofy stuff, nothing related to horror, no references to thrillers, no action but just the focus on relationships and love. And it is friggin' great. 

The film starts with the send-off of Voyager 2, a probe sent into deep space with pretty much an open invitation to alien life to come and visit. On a distant planet several years later, the probe is found and they decide to send a visitor, who of course promptly gets shot down, because humans suck. 

The alien, who looks like a glowing orb of light, finds the home of a young widow and through some hair of her deceased husband, manages to take his form and shape. At first, she is a little disconcerted (how would you feel?), especially as he sort of forces her to take him across country to Arizona. She tries to escape a couple of times, but along the way, she begins to understand that the Starman is simply on his way home again. 

He will also die in three days if he misses his rendezvous with his kin. But the real click she makes is when she sees him bring a dead deer back to life. It's as if she finally understands that the Starman is curious and harmless, while a lot of humanity is hostile. Heck, they are being hunted by the government (because of course). There is a special envoy from SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) who is hot on their trail, but this guy is mostly fascinated and he is horrified to learn that his superiors just want to dissect our alien visitor. So he decides to lend a hand, because he's just a nice guy. 

So you see, this is something of a different thing that Carpenter has wrought. But it does have those Carpenter-framings and shots that we have all come to appreciate and/or love. This film is a slow burn, but you get slowly but surely sucked in to the budding relationship between Jenny and Starman and it is beautiful. This is in a massive part thanks to the prowess of both Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges. She plays Jenny incredibly relatable and her arch makes a boatload of sense. The real showstealer is Jeff Bridges, though. He actually was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance here and even though that doesn't always say something: here he is absolutely wonderful. He managed to nail just that balance between alien/quirky and childlike innocent. He also becomes more 'human' near the end, but not human as 'like a human', but human as in 'more emotional', because apparently that is something that his species has more or less lost along the way. 

There are without a doubt two scenes that will always stick out: one is the one where he brings the deer back to life, the other is when they are chased by the police and have an accident, after which he emerges from the blaze carrying Jenny in his arms. Two moneyshots right there, but both are very different from one another indeed. This all leads to an emotional climax, with special effects, sure, but they are not the focus. Try and keep your eyes dry when he waves goodbye and the theme plays once again. It's not easy. 

'Starman' is a film that gets under your skin. It isn't flashy nor fast and you have to take the time to sit down and watch it, but it's totally worth it. Of course, if emotional tales about loss, love and understanding are not your cup of tea, you might find this boring. But this is still an excellent film, whichever way you cut it.