Thoughts on the film: Sunshine

Last night Beefcake and I watched Sunshine. HOLY FRIJOLES that was a good movie.

Don't worry, no real spoilers follow.

I knew this was some kind of scifi space movie and I'd heard it was good, and that's about it. So about 20 minutes into the film there was this beautiful scene with some sunlight and fire and the ship's captain and it just blew me away. Beefcake turned to me and said, "That was amazing."

And I said, "I'm glad you thought so because I thought so too."

And I can't totally explain why it was amazing, it just was. I think like eight million story elements happened in that one moment and it was set to beautiful music. I decided right then that I loved this movie.

Somewhere along the way this turned into a suspense thriller, then a straight up horror movie. But I don't care about genre because in the end it just felt like a story about forgiveness and selflessness and humanity and hope and courage. I spent most of the film hiding behind my pillow.

I was really scared for these people, and I was scared for them because I knew them. Each of the eight crew members on the ship had a distinct personality that set them apart, and each one had a reason for me to care about them. A lot of people die in this story, but each one is a different experience and each one I genuinely feel sad about. Each death was meaningful - I didn't feel like any character was created for the sole purpose of being cannon fodder.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Sunshine felt like a story. It didn't feel like it was written by committee or with a formula in mind or keeping strictly to conventions of genre - it just felt like a story. There were a few moments in the end where I didn't know what the fuck was going on, made more complicated by the bizarre camera movement, but after a bit it cleared up and made sense again, so it didn't bother me too much.

There were just so many beautiful moments in this film because in the end it was a story about eight people on a mission to save humanity while they figure out what humanity means for each of them.

And it was good.