Remarkably Bright Creatures

4 outta 5

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a heap of melodrama and coincidence but it manages to be heartfelt and effective, with the help of a narrator Octopus and a hellova emotional performance by the leads. The twists at the end are a bit unbelievable but work emotionally. Also the geek cred in Remarkably Bright Creatures is incredible! Amazing Spider-Man Aunt May fretting, Bob from Thunderbolts* still an unstable headcase, Chief O’Brien from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fixing things, Otto Octavius as an octopus who keeps saying how much smarter he is than anyone else.

Tova (Sally Field) is an elderly, lonely, cleaning lady at an aquarium. She is dedicated to her job, cleaning every mess, while she chats with the captive octopus named Marcellus (Alfred Molina). Marcellus is a very intelligent octopus who talks to himself about how silly and messy the humans are. Into town sweeps a musician / homeless guy named Cameron (Lewis Pullman), and his junky mobile van needs repair. With no funds, he ends up working at the aquarium, filling in for Tova after she injured her ankle. But she still shows up and tells Cameron how to clean up properly instead of the half-assed job he is doing. Also she wants to see her friend, Marcellus, as he keeps escaping his tank; a telltale sign he is sick and dying. Tova is all alone and is considering moving into a retirement home, although she has her sewing circle of friends and she is interested in the local shop owner, Ethan (Colm Meaney). But she is dealing with the grief of losing her son, and the reason Cameron came into town was to find his missing dad. So the two misfits become friends, taking care of the octopus, cleaning up and learning about each other’s history, uncovering some long lost secrets.

Field is a very empathetic actor and she is very sympathetic here. She has a lot of funny, curt old lady moments. The film slowly reveals her history of loss, which is why she is considering moving into an old folks home and why her closest friend is an octopus. There is a stirring finale when the ailing Marcellus has to be returned to the sea, and Field sells the hell out of it as taking the sick octopus off the pier is a moment of her personal rejuvenation. There are things one has to accept, like an octopus knowing to jump into an eel tank to retrieve a ring for her human friend, but hey, that’s why the octopus is narrating the movie.

Maybe Molina narrating an octopus that is very talkative and constantly says how he’s much more intelligent than the dopey humans is a bit too close to his iconic role of Doctor Octopus, but it gives the film a funny in-joke. Also Molina is a great actor who can convey volumes with simple shifts in his vocal inflection. The best parts are whenever he says how dumb and annoying the humans are. Does it fit well with the melodrama and family revelations? Not really but it is fun. The octopus is a mixture of real footage and CGI which is very convincing.

Pullman as Cameron plays really good confused, directionless and frustrated. He says he is in a band, but he is living in squalor in a van. The one moment when he has a Zoom call with his bandmates, they tell him they can’t be in a band anymore and he looks positively pained when they’re explaining it. There is a moment when he is driving Tova’s car and finds a cassette tape of Radiohead (leftover by her son). She doesn’t want to hear it because it reminds her of her departed son, but he’s very enthusiastic. This pays off well later when he is at an open mic and does a stirring solo acoustic performance of Radiohead. A heartfelt solo acoustic performance of a classic song is an easy scene, but it is effective.

The plot about Cameron searching for his father involves more than a few coincidences that happen on top of each other. There is a reason he is in the town because he thinks his father is there, but the way he happens to find Tova is a little too neat. They also search through old high school yearbooks that connect her son to Cameron’s history. By the end, there are old photos and notes leading to a revelation that is absurd on the surface but works emotionally. Any movie where there is emotional catharsis via Radiohead and an octopus jumping out of its tank is going to have a few logical leaps.

There are some funny bits with Tova and her friends as when they start getting all giddy that Tova is going on a date with Ethan. It’s fun to see Meaney again as he plays a lot of everyman Irishman, like iconic run on Star Trek as O’Brien looms large over his performance here where he’s also friendly and fixing things. There is a feeling things would be all right if these two seniors would come together as a couple. Remarkably Bright Creatures may have a few dopey plot twists but with some solid emotional scenes and a very great voiceover by a very smart octopus, makes for a moving experience.