Space: The Longest Goodbye

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"The Longest Goodbye" is a documentary about social isolation affects millions of people, even Mars-bound astronauts. A savvy NASA psychologist is tasked with protecting these daring explorers. Directed by Ido Mizrahy does a good job with the visual presentation and sound design throughout. The main concept is pretty interesting especially from someone who enjoys learning about space and the social aspects in space. However, this wasn't the exact documentary I was hoping for.

The documentary provides great camerawork of space and the production throughout is good. The concepts about space and social isolation are explained but they weren't as interesting as I was hoping for. Many elements that were discussed felt uneven or not as engaging. For example, the discusses about VR used in space as comfort seems pretty cool but it didn't further explain much about it which I would love to see more of.

Overall, it's an alright documentary but it didn't have a huge punch for me.

Rating: C+

An intruiging documentary that premiered at Sundance that will be super interesting for those seeking popular science themes, especially from the human perspective. It is mainly about breaking down remote communication, while reavealing a department in NASA that is rarely talked about - psygologists for astronauts. The film dive into the efforts they make to mitigate long journeys in space, and most particulary the expedition to Mars. The film does not go into details on the entire range of issues and solutions presented in it, but it certainly gives an emotional and intimate picture of the basic need for human connection, so to a large extent it is relevant for all of us humans here on earth.

A really cool film for anyone who likes space. It goes through the challenges that astronauts share with their families while going for space missions that will become longer and longer as humanity will push forward. It also shows some really uniqe expiriments happening on Earth. I find it particularly relevant in our post covid world. What does it mean to stay connected to your loved ones? Will technology really solve these issues? It is not your standard science film, being much more emotional and personal. Makes you wonder about where are we going with all the new types of communication devices and how it will affect human connections.