‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ review: Sally Field and Lewis Pullman’s Sparkle in the warmly funny and poignant drama on Netflix

According to almost everyone in Remarkably bright creaturesOctopuses are unusual creatures. They are amazingly intelligent, able to handle tools, nimble, and able to slip in and out of the smallest of cracks. They can be patient, observant and perhaps even funny, occasionally splashing at a human just to get the hell out of them.

So it seems a bit unfortunate, frankly, that Marcellus (Alfred Molina), the cephalopod who narrates Netflix’s adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s beloved novel, isn’t given to doing more than just making a fuss about the interior lives of two people.

But I suppose it’s hard to blame him when the people in question are played by Sally Field and Lewis Pullman, two reliably likeable actors who are somehow more attractive together. Like a movie about animals, Remarkably bright creatures It is a human-centered treacle. But as a film about people, the gentle humor and depth of feeling are enough to sweep you away in a wave of emotions.

In the first of many very candid observations, Marcellus reflects on what he has in common with Tova (Field), the night janitor at a small New England aquarium and one of the few humans he finds acceptable. They both love the quiet of the night. They both hate wolf snakes. Also, “We both dream of the bottom of the sea, and what we lost there.”

For Marcellus, this meant his sense of homeland and freedom; He counts each day of his “captivity” like a house cat in a meme. But Olivia Newman’s film, For Some Reason, Marcellus, is much more concerned with Tova’s pain. By the time we met her, she was living alone in (Amazingly Beautiful, it must be said) beachside cottage for years, her husband and son having passed away some time ago. Marcellus can sense her unhappiness, and after saving him one night from a tangle of computer wires, she decides to return the favor by fixing him.

The solution literally leads to the city. Cameron (Pullman) is another lost soul, a penniless musician living in a very old and very dirty camper. Upon meeting Cameron, Marcellus intuits that he carries the same kind of hurt that Tova does. Since then, the octopus has been devoting its final days to trying to combine the two.

From a distance, or perhaps from the limited view of Marcellus’ tank stained with handprints, a conspiracy emerges. Remarkably bright creatures It’s almost too tidy to be true. An ankle injury puts Tova out of work just as Cameron, stuck in Soul Bay for the foreseeable future thanks to car problems, happens to be looking for temporary work. During job training, Cameron turns out to be a child searching for an absent parent, while Tova is a parent missing a lost child.

The surrogate mother-son dynamic that develops between them – she chides him for taking his job too seriously; He fixes things for her around the house – something that is as inevitable as the tides. Fortunately, any time the two threaten to separate, Marcellus is there to push them back together, often at great risk to himself. CG was used to create Marcellus (led by Untold Studios’ Chris Ritvo) and he’s impressively lifelike, giving him real heft and character, and Molina’s delivery of his internal musings on the failings and quirks of our species is satirical and downright entertaining. But there is no escape My octopus teacher– A sense of human centrality. Despite Marcellus’ insistence on his superiority, he might as well be a cute dog in a rom-com.

And yet. For everyone Remarkably bright creaturesconstraints and means, the actual bond that forms between their two human souls feels sincere and organic. It’s up to the lead actors and their uneasy chemistry, which Newman and John Whittington’s script helps build step by step through offbeat adventures like an open mic night in which Cameron showcases his musical chops, or a road trip that ends in a hilarious gun-toting showdown.

Field is unsurprisingly wonderful as Tova, a woman who dresses herself in isolation like an old, worn-out cardigan she can’t bear to throw away. The third-act monologue in which she opens up her deepest wounds is stunning. Gasps rang throughout my theater. Pullman has his own charm, radiating sweetness from beneath the exterior of Cameron’s dirtbag. But here as in Apple Chemistry lessons or Anne Lee’s testimony Or coming Wishful thinkingHis most exceptional talent is being a scene partner. Whether Cameron is intently listening to Tova or trying to ignore her, both stars are so in tune with their energy together that you can’t help but feel it under your skin.

The world around them feels just as warm, even if the actual surroundings are subject to clouds, fog, and drizzle. Colm Meaney is a lovelorn shop owner who approaches Tova like she’s a beautiful little bird he’s afraid to scare away. Sophia Black-D’Elia makes such a delightful and acerbic impression as Cameron’s love interest Avery (“That sounds like a problem for you,” she responds when Cameron expresses surprise that she owns her own paddleboard shop despite being “about my age”) that I was just disappointed that she didn’t get more screen time. The rest of the city is populated by curious but well-intentioned people, ready to pounce for advice ahead of time or to help investigate a simple mystery.

Remarkably bright creatures It may be the eighty-seventh work I’ve seen this year about the charms of life in a small seaside town. But for anyone other than Marcellus, who insists to the end that all he wants is to return to his old home in the depths of the sea, it may also be the most tempting. It’s as cozy as an old wool blanket, as sweet as a cup of hot chocolate, and, ultimately, as poignant as the sight of the sky turning purple on an endless horizon.