It may wear its heart on its sleeve, but this unapologetically sentimental adaptation of the bestselling novel—featuring a brilliant Sally Field and a wise, giant Pacific octopus—is an emotionally resonant surprise.
Picture Credit: Netflix
From Night Owl Stories & Anonymous Content, Remarkably Bright Creatures is the latest film adaptation of a New York Times bestselling novel as author Shelby Van Pelt’s debut spent more than 64 weeks on the publication’s hardcover fiction bestseller list, and more than 30 weeks and counting on the trade paperback fiction bestseller list. The much-anticipated film is directed by Olivia Newman (Where the Crawdads Sing), who previously worked with the streamer on her debut feature First Match in 2018.
Co-written by Newman & Swapped screenwriter John Whittington, the story centers on Tova (2-time Oscar winner Sally Field), a widowed woman who works as the night shift cleaner at a local aquarium, who finds her joy again when she forms unlikely bonds with a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus (voiced by 5-time SAG/Actor Award nominee Alfred Molina) and a wayward young man named Cameron (Thunderbolts standout Lewis Pullman) who comes to town in search of his family. Together, they uncover a mystery that will lead them to a life-changing discovery and restore their sense of wonder.
Adding to this already celebrated cast, the film also features: Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Joan Chen (Didi), Kathy Baker (Edward Scissorhands), Beth Grant (Little Miss Sunshine), & Sofia Black-D’Elia (The Night Of).
Picture Credit: Netflix
Sliding into the Mother’s Day weekend spot occupied last year by the Emmy-nominated family-friendly crowd pleaser Nonnas, Remarkably Bright Creatures belongs in a rare category of film that I remember more from my youth in the 80s & 90s; the type of story that doesn’t make sense in a 2 minute trailer or even a logline. It’s a movie that reminds you of that person you know, maybe a neighbor or a close relative or a co-worker; that person who took a shine to you when you needed it, that person who wasn’t quite the same since something damaged them, that person who was just surviving until they saw you that day.
Based on my age, I picture Jessica Tandy, a legend of stage and screen who won an Academy Award for Driving Miss Daisy and was nominated for another a few years later for Fried Green Tomatoes. Tandy had a black belt in emotionally manipulative roles that see people of a certain age & experience dropping their guard down just enough to let the invigorating spirit of life come racing back; whether that was in a new person in their life following a loss or seeing something in a stranger that reminds them of their younger selves.
But if you want a binary for how Remarkably Bright Creatures might make you feel, it’s the films Tandy made with her husband Hume Cronyn in the mid to late 80s, specifically the Steven Spielberg-produced family film Batteries Not Included. In that movie, Tandy & Cronyn are a sweet but defeated older NYC couple who are being forced from their home by a real estate developer; that is, until an intervention from a group of tiny alien machines gives these feisty seniors the tools they need to fight back and something to care about in a time of their lives when that seemed long gone.
The critical response to Batteries Not Included was incredibly mixed. Even between the legendary duo Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert, the film’s humanity was effective only half the time, with Ebert calling it “sweet, cheerful, and funny family entertainment” and Siskel lamenting it as “so harmless it’s boring”.
Picture Credit: Netflix
No matter which side of the coin you’re on with a film like this, you’re right. You either see the wave of emotional manipulation coming towards you and run, or you let it wash over you and bathe you in its empathy, compassion, & hope.
With Remarkably Bright Creatures, I did not choose violence as the memes say, but instead I chose to let Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, & a voiceover of a wise octopus at the end of his life hit me in my feels … as the memes say. Every ounce of Field’s performance reminded me of older women in my life that have let their lives become an exercise in surviving and feeling like their mere existence is a bother to the world around them – if they are even brave enough that day to engage with it. Someone who was cut so deeply that each step reminds them of the pain, a pain they see every day as they live in a tomb of reminders in their homes, their communities, and their own minds.
This story works for you, as it did for me, if you want to see the rebound, if you want closure, if you want to think that life can be a set of happy accidents and aquatic intervention can be possible in order for life to just work out before it’s too late. For all of our sakes, Sally Field plays this role just right, with enough “set in her ways” brashness to lay the groundwork while subtly easing into the possibilities of opening up one more time. Her chemistry with Lewis Pullman works exactly as intended – a closed-off woman who hasn’t been a mother in a long time slowly becoming a figure to someone in need while that person returns the favor in kind as it rekindles a sense of vigor & importance just when she was about to give up. Two actors who never let the improbabilities or the saccharine sensitivities of the story ever touch their performances.
If you want to be critical of the safe & contrived nature in which this story is created, be my guest. I won’t tell you you’re wrong. If you want to tell me you probably don’t even need the voiceover of an octopus, as the relationship should be enough, I’d allow it and maybe even co-sign it. However, I refuse to ignore how this story got to me, reflecting a little-seen segment of the type of person we see every day. For every person’s “boring” and “harmless”, I choose to engage with this film as “sweet … family entertainment”.
- My Octopus Teacher
- Batteries Not Included
- First Match
- Where The Crawdads Sing
- Nonnas
Sally Field as Tova Sullivan
If you are Gen X or an elder Millenial like me, Sally Field is and will forever be an actor to be treasured. Whether you first encountered her while your Dad watched Smokey and the Bandit from his recliner or playing every version of a complicated, well-rounded mother in Steel Magnolias, Mrs. Doubtfire, & Forrest Gump, Field has always brought us to our knees. With cheekbones & a delicate smile that could light up the darkest room, she has a charisma and a grounded sensibility that always made us feel right at home in any situation.
Now in her “Aunt May” period of her career, Field can still give her characters the grace & dignity they deserve with a level of authenticity & forethought that many in her position fail to do. In Tova, I saw the fire of decades of pushing people away with the eyes & soul of a woman trapped by her past trauma. It’s a rare combination as we – fans of Field since our youth – have seen Field as well as her characters evolve to this point too.
In different hands, this film and this role could have been far more ham-fisted and trite, especially in an era that shuns Oscar grabs and forced sentimentality. But Field pulled me away from that by tapping into something that felt more real while being surrounded by the improbable.
Sure, it’s a TV movie with a voiceover of an octopus, but if it hits you just right, Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, & whoever you transposed into their emotionally resonant characters just might surprise you.
