[Filling the Space is a flexible column where our writers could vent, deconstruct, and work their way around the emotions brought on by TV, films, books, music, and key moments in pop culture. This isn’t meant to be analytical, but instead, a way for us to explore our feelings.]
There’s something really indescribable about the joy in Project Hail Mary, and the escapism it continues to provide. I watch every fan video that crosses my feed (currently sobbing to one set to Phoebe Bridgers’ “I Know the End”), and I watch every Ryan Gosling interview. The memes also continue to be hilarious, and all of this is happening at the same time as NASA’s Artemis II launch feels cosmic.
More than anything, right now, for some of us, it’s all about chasing as much joy as we possibly can, and Project Hail Mary is the only movie that seems to be delivering this. It’s a reminder of how breathtaking human creations can be, and it’s a reminder of how significant hope is. The world around us isn’t all that great, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t in a mental rut and struggling with creativity. Pair that with the fear of wars and godawful news all around us, and just honestly, what are we even doing anymore?
I’m all for realism on my TV shows and movies, but I’m incredibly tired at the same time. So many of us keep re-watching old things because we have the guarantee of hope at the end of them. We have some sort of comforting reassurance that art does matter because it can leave an impact and heal all the cracks in us. That’s exactly what Project Hail Mary does through a simple story about a man, the planet, and the friend he makes along the way.
And I keep thinking about how the reception for it is not only positive, but it’s just…lovely. You can’t post a single thing on the internet these days without someone chiming in with something negative to say, but it’s rarer with this movie. Maybe I’m in a delightful little bubble where I’m not seeing any of the negativity, but the hope is infectious. It’s helping us find joy, and it makes me believe that creativity is still important. There are still people left in the world who care about beautiful things made by human beings.
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It reminds me of this specific quote in Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. “And isn’t the whole point of things—beautiful things—that they connect you to some larger beauty? Those first images that crack your heart wide open and you spend the rest of your life chasing, or trying to recapture, in one way or another? Because, I mean—mending old things, preserving them, looking after them—on some level there’s no rational grounds for it—” So, I’m not even quite sure what to say because I’ve said much in my review and in the few articles I’ve written about Project Hail Mary since then, but I’m just extremely grateful, I suppose. And I’ll keep staying in my little bubble with this movie to have guaranteed joy for a little while longer.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Amazon MGM Studios