Alien Intervention

A tribute to Starman of 1984 (oops, you knew that didn't you?) perhaps but with absolutely minimal SFX. A little slow to start with but it draws you in. Sympathetically drawn characters, although one can't help feeling a little frustrated with Clive's unwillingness to be open with her husband. The ex MIB character (if I may call him that) is very amusing if a little unbelievable but you know what? Films are all about suspension of disbelief and for an hour and three quarters it managed it for me, which not many fiction films (of any genre) do nowadays.

As many have said, the cinematography is excellent and the acting very solid. Overall this film I found to be satisfying, in a very good and quiet way.

I'll lead off by saying I liked the movie a lot. It was intelligent, well acted and the camera work was incredible. Where it kinda lost me was with some of the story ideas that to me just didn't work. Firstly, it was strange that the main character was Japanese American "Sanada", and her father was clearly either from Japan or 2nd generation, and the mother was white. This alone is certainly not a big deal, but I wanted it explained because it's unusual to have that type of family in the New Mexico desert. So to just have that be a thing without offering any insight just seemed off. I also found the story that the govt. Agent broke the alien out of a top secret base to be laughable. Come on, really? Just lazy writing. The rest of the story was so thoughtful and well written that whoever wrote this thing could've done better, but I guess chose to give up in regards to this aspect.

Per my husband's request one night we decided to go on Roku and see what the content was like. As we don't have an account we got a list of films that could be streamed for free and because I like sci fi we decided on this. And honestly I was so surprised and happy because there's no guns, there's no super dark themes and there's an alien being who likes hip hop from the 90s. I mean maybe the beginning was a bit slow but I thought all the characters were interesting, even the jerk husband, and I loved the ending and how it didn't wrap everything up in a little bow for you the way so many films do these days. Really fun and would recommend this for the whole family.

Sat down and watched with my husband not expecting much but after five minutes we both looked at one another saying 'wow this is actually pretty good.' And the ending did not disappoint. It honestly made me wonder what comes next in this story as it suggests a new beginning for the main character full of possibilities.

Loved the mom character. Reminds me of my own. And the husband was actually sympathetic which is funny because I was prepared to not like him. There are a few swear words but this is definitely a family friendly film.

The camera work was absolutely gorgeous in this film. A few desert shots were just awe inspiring.

Based on the title and the poster art, I expected something more like that film "contact" where it's firmly rooted in sci fi. But really I thought this was more a movie like "the station agent" where it's a thoughtful character study that explores the human condition and our quest for purpose and meaning. Honestly I'd of given this a higher score, but I was struggling with the tone and story for the first 20 min for the above stated reasons of title and poster art.

But overall, I really enjoyed this and found the message relevant and moving and quite liked the journey the main character takes.

Would definitely recommend.