It’s 2008, and astronaut Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) has just returned from a ten day mission to space, the most extraordinary experience of her life. While her body has returned to Earth, a part of Lucy is still up there in the stars. After experiencing something so grand, she finds it incredibly difficult to adjust back to the smallness of life on Earth. Lucy appears to have a perfect life, with an amazing job and loving husband, Drew (Dan Stevens). But things did not come easy for her, always under the pressure of her demanding grandmother (Ellen Burstyn).

When Lucy returns home, she discovers that her deadbeat brother’s teenage daughter, Blue Iris (Pearl Amanda Dickson), is once again staying at her home. Lucy doesn’t necessarily mind this as she loves her niece, but also isn’t surprised that her brother’s life is still a mess. Lucy returns to work, already counting down the 13 months until her next chance at a space mission. She is welcomed into mini club of fellow astronauts—Jim Hunt (Jeffrey Donovan), Kate Mounier (Tig Notaro) and Mark Goodwin (Jon Hamm)—who have all been to space and understand her yearning to experience the high of outer space again. However, this innocent hanging out quickly leads to flirting and a spiraling, self-destructive affair with one of the astronauts. The film is loosely based on the real-life events of astronauts Lisa Nowak and William Oefelein.

Despite the quality acting, I found this movie to be quite disappointing overall. I remember seeing the trailers for this film in the theater, and then it suddenly appeared on digital, seemingly skipping the theatrical release completely at my local AMC. But after watching the film, I can understand why. If you look at the way the film was marketed, the trailers implied some sort of sci-fi thriller and/or space drama, but the film is neither. There are no sci-fi or thriller elements to the movie, and the space elements are merely used as a way to explore the Earth-bound character drama of self-destructive woman who is in a constant struggle to regain the high and purpose in life she felt during her space mission. In one of the bonus features, director Noah Hawley says that he wants viewers to feel empathy for Lucy, despite her self-destructive actions. However, I never found anything in the movie that made me care about Lucy’s plight—it was all her own self-doing. It never felt like she was truly worthy of redemption.

Another issue I had is with the film is its odd visual style. The movie is constantly adjusting its aspect ratio, with the majority of the film being presented in 4:3 full frame format. In the bonus material, the filmmakers state that this was supposed to represent the claustrophobia and crushing feelings that Lucy is experiencing back on Earth, and that film opens up to 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 ratios when Lucy is feeling emotions or gets excited about something. However, I never got this feeling while watching the movie—it felt like there was no rhyme or reason to the aspect changes. In addition, the bottom of many of the scenes (particular those presented in 4:3) were quite blurry, like a fish-eye lens was used. Inter-cut with all of these aspect changes are these odd, straight down, overhead shots, many of which are initially a little difficult to understand what you are looking at. While some may praise this shifting aspect ratio as brave or a work of art, I just found it confusing and distracting.

The film was just a little too artsy and out-there for my taste, with too many layers of metaphors and attempts at deeper meaning. In one of the bonus features, the filmmakers discuss how the multiple layers of wallpaper being stripped off the wall in one scene relates at some deeper level to the struggle inside of Lucy. (What?!) Throughout the movie we also see this constant symbolism of metamorphosis with caterpillars turning into butterflies. And so in one scene we see a caterpillar hanging upside-down from a branch in its chrysalis and this dissolves into Lucy hanging upside down in her sleeping bag on the rocket ship. While there are some who will likely declare the use of metaphors to be a beautiful, metaphysical masterpiece, I suspect most of the audience just won’t get it.

It doesn’t appear that there is any physical media release on the horizon for Lucy in the Sky, but it is currently available on digital platforms in 4K. I was sent an HD digital copy for review. I’ve already stated my issues with the visual presentation, such as the blurry picture. Since this seems to be a deliberate aesthetic choice, it’s difficult to grade the quality of the picture. I also don’t believe that the 4K version would would have any effect on my issues, and would just provide increased detail to the clearer portions of the image. The audio track on the digital release sounds really good, providing clear dialogue as well as a nice ambiance to the film. The digital version also includes some bonus material—4 deleted scenes and about 22 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast and filmmakers. These provide a nice and interesting look into what the filmmakers were trying to do, even if the film didn’t necessarily work for me.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:05:38)

Digital:

• Movies Anywhere Compatible
• Technical specs vary per retailer

Extras:
Digital bonus feature access and contents may vary per retailer.

• Deleted Scenes (9:48)
  Play All, or select from:
  • Lucy Teaches (2:15)
    Lucy watches a science class filmstrip abut a caterpillar going through metamorphosis, and then talks to the class about her experiences in space.
  • Mark Takes Lucy to the Roof (4:24)
    After they have sex in his office “for the last time”, Mark takes Lucy to the roof to talk and watch the sun go down.
  • Lucy Leaves Erin in the Simulator (1:06)
    Lucy has one of her daydreams while Erin is in the simulator and walks off.
  • Lucy and Iris Get Pulled Over (2:03)
    Lucy is pulled over by the New Mexico state police for speeding, and forgets she has a gun in her glove compartment.
• Director’s Journey (5:13)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about the story, and working with the director and his unique vision and visual style. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with producer Bruna Papandrea, director Noah Hawley, producer John Cameron, cinematographer Polly Morgan, VFX supervisor Lou Pecora, and stars Natalie Portman (“Lucy Cola”), Dan Stevens (“Drew Cola”), Jon Hamm (“Mark Goodwin”), and Zazie Beetz (“Ein Eccles”).
• Creating Magical Realism (6:50)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about grounding the film in reality but adding elements of fantasy, and using different angles, lenses, changes in aspect ratios and use of infinite zoom to reflect Lucy’s state of mind. Includes behind-the-scenes footage showing how the shots were composed, and interviews with director Noah Hawley, producer John Cameron, cinematographer Polly Morgan, VFX supervisor Lou Pecora, visual effects producer David Van Dyke, producer Bruna Papandrea, and stars Dan Stevens and Natalie Portman.
• Making Space (5:43)
  The cast and crew discuss the importance of having many women on the crew as possible to tell this story, particularly in the production designer and director of photography roles, and what these women brought to the film. Includes behind-the-scenes look at the sets, and interviews with director Noah Hawley, producer John Cameron, production designer Stefania Cella, cinematographer Polly Morgan, art director Samantha Avila, set decorator Jon Bush, and star Natalie Portman.
• Lucy Cola (4:16)
  Te cast and filmmakers talk about the character Lucy Cola, the journey she goes on and why she ultimately does what she does, and casting Natalie Portman in the role. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director Noah Hawley, producers Bruna Papandrea and John Cameron, and stars Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, and Zazie Beetz.

Final Thoughts:

Lucy in the Sky has an amazing cast, but unfortunately they are wasted, and the film crashes under the weight of its overly-ambitious visual style. If there are fans who saw this in the limited theatrical release, they should be pleased by the bonus material, as the filmmakers do a nice job of conveying their vision and explaining their choices. However, those considering a blind buy, should probably opt for a rental first.