By Jake Hjort, contributing writer
If I had a nickel for every time an actress named Sally played a lonely janitor who formed a bond with an intelligent aquatic creature, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but its weird that it happened twice. Alas, this isn’t a review of Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar winning The Shape of Water, but the decidedly less horny Remarkably Bright Creatures. An adaptation of a 2022 novel of the same name written by Shelby Van Pelt, this is Netflix’s latest star- (and octopus)-studded drama which begs the question: will this blend into all the background noise, or will it bring the streaming giant the awards buzz they crave?
Set in a sleepy coastal town in the Pacific Northwest, Remarkably Bright Creatures centers on Tova Sullivan (Sally Field), an elderly widow who works as a night custodian at the local aquarium. There, she has developed a relationship with Marcellus (Alfred Molina), a giant Pacific octopus who also serves as the film’s narrator. Joining Tova and Marcellus at the aquarium is Cameron (Lewis Pullman), a young wayward soul seeking out his father following the death of his mother. Together, the three seek a place of belonging and a sense of understanding, even if they may have to look for it in unusual places.
First and foremost, I want to shout out Sally Field. It’s been a while since she’s taken on the leading role in a film and she’s absolutely killing it here. Tova gets a lot of screen time and Field brings immense depth to the character through her performance alone (which is good because the script isn’t doing her a ton of favors, but we’ll get to that later). The most notable example of this is the difference in the emotion that Field portrays as Tova discusses her recently deceased husband and long-since-deceased son. There’s a bitter sadness with her husband, but the anguish that you can hear in her voice and see on her face when she talks about her son, who she has still yet to fully mourn, is much more visceral.
Alongside Field there are a few great supporting performances to shout out. Pullman brings a lot of angst and anger to the film’s deuteragonist but maintains an underlying tenderness throughout. Molina, upgrading here from an octopus-themed supervillain to an actual octopus, is as excellent as ever in his line delivery, though his role as a glorified narrator limits his ability to really play off of his screen partners. Lastly, I want to shout out Colm Meaney and his character Ethan, a grocer and local guide who courts Tova and houses Cameron, acting as a beacon of positivity and hope always ready to guide the other characters out of darkness.
Unfortunately, outside of some great performances, Remarkably Bright Creatures doesn’t have a whole lot going for it. I haven’t read the novel that it’s based on so I can’t speak to the quality of the adaptation, but I found the story to be pretty basic and predictable. There are a few major plot turns, but I found all of them to be overly telegraphed and I was more annoyed at how long it took the characters to figure out than satisfied that I had figured it out first. Visually speaking, director Olivia Newman and cinematographer Ashley Connor have found a bit of a cheat code by shooting in the Pacific Northwest (a beautiful part of the world that I called home for 5 years), though despite the gorgeous backdrops there isn’t exactly anything innovative or interesting happening with the camera.
Speaking of wasted potential, I really wish that this film had done more with its narrative structure and the concept of a story told through the perspective of an octopus. I love stories with unique perspectives as well as the trope of the alien/outsider providing commentary on the curiosities of human nature. I really thought that was the kind of movie that I was going to be getting. Instead, this is a routine drama that just so happens to have an octopus providing commentary every now and then. Marcellus’ insights were some of my favorite bits of the film and the only moments which really set this apart from any of the other countless half-decent dramas that you could throw up on Netflix tonight. Maybe it’s just the weird animal lover in me but give me a version of this story that’s told completely from Marcellus’s perspective and through his observations and I’d be a much happier camper.
At the end of the day, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a perfectly fine movie that I think most people would enjoy. Sally Field is the clear standout, and I think that there is a chance she may be able to make a late-career awards push on this streamer-exclusive a la Jodie Foster and Annette Bening in Nyad (though in this case she’d be looking for an Emmy rather than an Oscar as Netflix is forgoing any theatrical availability). Though I’m disappointed about the subpar execution of an interesting premise, that premise is still there and there’s certainly still enough of it to make this one worth considering for your movie night.
Rating: Low Side of Liked It
Remarkably Bright Creatures is currently streaming on Netflix
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