Starman, John Carpenter, USA, 1984, 115’, OV with Spanish subtitles
The 80s, a decade in which it was still possible for a film to flaunt high levels of romanticism and ingenuousness, and do so honestly without, in exchange for so doing, any need to resort to irony. John Carpenter, cult director, standard bearer of the horror genre – films such as The Thing (1982), Halloween, (1979), and Christine (1984) are considered seminal works of the genre – treats us, in Starman, to a romance like we’d never seen before in all his work. An improbable love story between a young widow from Wisconsin, - Karen Allen, all dejection and self-pity – and an affable extra-terrestrial being – Jeff Bridges, delightfully maladroit – who, having taken on the appearance of her recently deceased husband, needs help to get back, on time, to the space ship that will take him back where he belongs. The similarities with E.T. (Steven Spielberg, 1982) are palpable; both projects were carried out almost at the same time, in keeping with Hollywood box office needs. With the soul of a road movie, the structure of an adventure flick, sci-fi DNA and the heart of the romantic comedy, Starman is an emotional crescendo as absurd as it is throbbing with life, a moving journey against time through a strangely uplifting America, riddled with obstacles but capable of showing an alien the most conciliatory facets of the place that it is.
With the soul of a road movie, the structure of an adventure flick, sci-fi DNA and the heart of the romantic comedy, Starman is an emotional crescendo as absurd as it is throbbing with life.