Supernova is a new British film by Harry Macqueen which explores dementia and its effects on people’s lives, relationships and beliefs. Unlike another recent film about a similar topic, The Father, Supernova tells a story of a person whose condition is still manageable.
Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) embark on a journey across England, which potentially could be their last trip together as Tusker is rapidly losing his memory and will to live because of diagnosed dementia. On the journey, they visit their friends and family, and rediscover each other while trying to understand their joint future.
While The Father is more widely recognised, it is Supernova which works better as a story and feels more complete. It is easier to empathize with somebody whom you see gradually fading rather than already being in a vegetative state, especially when you can see how people around notice it but don’t want to explicitly admit it. Supernova isn’t exactly about dementia, it’s more about the people.
The relationship between Sam and Tusker is very beautiful. It’s warm, caring and respectful – they genuinely love each other. They both have strong backbones yet allow themselves to be fragile. It is indeed sad to realize that they don’t have too much time left together.
Visuals in the movie deserve a special mention – astonishingly colourful rural England, starry skies, village houses and the couple’s old RV only add to that and create a warm and attractive picture.
The film raises a few interesting, almost philosophical questions to the viewer: “What does true love mean?’’, “Should a person be able to make decisions about his life without listening to others?’’ – these questions are the core of Supernova and are the essence of the drama element.
Despite all of the above, Supernova isn’t extremely good. Almost all of the key scenes were shown in the trailer, which definitely lowers the excitement. Because of that, a big part of the film feels emotionless and plain. The main plot twist is interesting, but how it was later developed and how characters made their choices doesn’t do it justice. The length of the film is criminally short – just over 90 minutes is not enough time to tell the whole story and make you fall in love with the characters. The lack of small details and some more striking scenes makes it a bit sketchy too.
Supernova definitely deserves your time. It is a good love story with a soulful vibe that can touch your heart, pull at its strings and make you reconsider some of your life beliefs. However, it is lacking some elements to be called a brilliant film – it’s simply not deep enough to be a masterpiece.
Three stars.
Image Credit: The MovieDB