Movie Review - Supernova (2021)

This is the second feature from British writer-director Harry Macqueen who is only in his mid 30's. Yet, this film is about men twice that age. It's interesting that this film was released in the United States around the same time that Chloé Zhao's Nomadland and Florian Zeller's The Father made their way, eventually winning Academy Awards. Macqueen's film could have fit into a conversation with those. Macqueen marries some of the themes in both those films. One of those themes is that of grief in the face of having lost a loved one or the process of losing someone through some debilitating or deteriorating disease. As in Nomadland, the way the protagonist deals with that grief is by setting off in a RV for a road trip. However, in terms of the narrative, this film is more in line with The Father, which is about a person who is suffering from dementia and the loved one having to make tough choices about being that person's caretaker. What separates this film from Zeller's Oscar-winning tale is the fact that the relationship here isn't between a father and child but between two gay lovers.

Colin Firth (The King's Speech and Bridget Jones's Diary) stars as Sam, a concert pianist who is in his 60's. He seems to be retired, but he has one upcoming show. Before he performs in that show, he decides to go on a road trip with his husband. It also seems as if he's been with his husband for decades. They interact and bicker with each other as if they're an old married couple. It's revealed though that his husband has dementia and it's getting worse, and Sam has put it upon himself to be the caregiver. Sam is getting increasingly anxious, more and more worried about his husband's condition. He has to figure out if he can be that perpetual caregiver or not.

Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones and The Hunger Games) co-stars as Tusker Mulliner, an author who has written some successful books. He's in his 60's or older. People want him to write another book, but Tusker has been diagnosed with dementia and he feels increasingly hopeless. Faced with a decision about what to do, he and Sam trek off in a RV for a road trip out in the country and in the woods to camp under the stars and reminisce about their lives together.

Unlike Chris Bolan's A Secret Love on Netflix, this film doesn't deconstruct their lives together as one might expect and even want. Bolan's documentary was very much about exploring the past though. This film is a narrative that's very much in the present and with an eye to the future. As such, it becomes a pretty incredible vehicle, pardon the pun, for Firth and Tucci, particularly Firth who is giving a top-notch performance as a man in love and desperate to hold onto his partner and not let him go. Tucci is great as a man who wants nothing but to let go. He's good, but it's Firth who's the standout. Firth seems to be comfortable playing a gay man, given that he's done it now several times: Mamma Mia! (2008), A Single Man (2009), The Happy Prince (2018) and now this.

This film presents a dramatic question though, which is compelling if not problematic. It reminded me of the British soap opera Emmerdale. Ten years ago, that show did a storyline involving two young gay men, Aaron, played by Danny Miller, and Jackson, played by Marc Silcock. Jackson got into a car accident, which left him paralyzed from the neck down. Aaron wanted to be his caregiver and was his caregiver for a brief time. Eventually, Jackson wanted to commit suicide because his condition was too much for him to handle. It's a tricky and complicated topic because no one wants to advocate for suicide as a solution to any trouble. However, that show went into the issue of euthanasia, which is a whole other can of worms.

Needless to say, this film wades into similar waters. One can see the ending of The Father and think that it's a nightmare scenario come to life that one can't escape. The situation in Emmerdale was obviously a different medical condition and one where there was no fluidity in how the condition could or would change. Jackson's desire for suicide is more black-and-white. One could argue that Tusker's condition here is more fluid, so things don't ostensibly seem as dire. I also don't think Tucci's performance sells his suicidal desires as well as Silcock in that soap opera. I get that a soap opera is supposed to be more melodramatic than a film like this, which is more subtle and nuanced, but this film feels like it's meant to be a two-hander and I never felt the other hand. I never felt like I was ever in Tucci's head fully.

Rated R for language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 35 mins.

Available on Hulu.