REVIEW: Remarkably Bright Creatures

Poignant melodrama features a great Sally Field performance.

Yes, there are good things, so-called wisdom and all that crap.

But, on the whole, getting older sucks.

The passage of time, and the fact that we all have a finite amount of it in this world is something we all grapple with. And beyond the realities of our own lives, it’s hard to avoid it. As someone in Gen X, barely a day goes by when another movie or album celebrates a 40^th anniversary, reminding me how fast it all goes.

The same can be said for stars we’ve grown up with inevitably aging, and reminding us of our own mortality. For folks of my parent’s generation, one of the poster children for that particular reminder twinge has to be Sally Field.

Of course, Field got her start on the small (and tube-filled) screen in Gidget and The Flying Nun — both of which cemented her in popular culture as the cute and adorable girl next door. Field was able to break that mold in the late 1970s, 80s, and beyond with a host of great performances in a wide range of genres.

But, Field is now (an amazing-looking) 79, and putting her in a film that specifically deals with the real issues of aging at that stage of life can’t help but to again conjure up her youth. And it was a masterstroke of casting, and adds another level of poignancy to Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Based on the recent novel and directed (and co-written for the screen) by Olivia Newman, Creatures has a premise that could easily veer into Hallmark movie territory, but doesn’t in large part because of the understated and nuanced performance of Field.

She stars as Tova Sullivan, a night janitor at a small Pacific Northwest aquarium who has lost both her husband and (years earlier) her teenage son, and is slowly pulling herself away from the world. As she drifts away from the people in her life she instead connects with Marsalis an elderly octopus who longs to escape his cage for his former Pacific home.

The underlying conceit of the story is that Marsalis is a primary character — both as a voice over narrator providing insight into the petty humans on the other side of the glass, and driver of the story that follows. That kicks in when an aspiring (but aimless) musician comes to town and finds himself working at the aquarium when Tova hurts her ankle.

Given his superior octopi knowledge, Marsalis can see that the two humans can help heal each other, and makes it his mission to bring them together.

I’ll leave the story at that. Because, beyond the picture-perfect settings, how that story comes together is where it might be criticized by some for Hallmark characteristics. I understand that take, but I don’t think Creatures goes over the line.

Lewis Pullman (son of Bill) is solid as the aimless musician and Alfred Molina brings a perfect smug superiority to the voice of Marsalis. There are also nice performances by familiar faces in the supporting cast, although they’re pretty much just there to drive the main narrative.

Yes, you might see the twist coming, and this sweet melodrama may seem to some to be a confection a little too saccharine and perfectly wrapped. But I found it touching, poignant and lovely.

Maybe it’s just my age.

And maybe a desire not to become more jaded as I dive deeper into it.

Either way, I hope Remarkably Bright Creatures has legs and gets the attention it deserves.

Especially for Sally Field.

She may be pushing 80, but she again proves the old adage that age is just a number.

It’s on Netflix. Go watch it.