SpaceBoy Review

October 6, 2021 at 7:38pm
By Jason Stettner

This was a rather charming, and emotionally focused look at grief. Perhaps not fully lingering on it, but the themes are hidden there at the start and towards the end. It’s quite lovely and just a delightful journey looking at youthful love and exploration. It follows Jim (Basile Grunberger) who’s obsessed with space and science.

There’s a special young scientist competition going on and he gets paired with his classmate Emma (Albane Masson). She’s got a bit of reluctance being more closed off, and this is due to some other issues that are lightly touched upon initially. The issues are a bigger part of the overall themes being shown and it was rather emotional in how that all played out. Moving past that, Jim convinces her to imitate Kittinger’s special “Excelsior” project.

The idea is to reach the edge of space and two begin working on this. There’s a nice mix of realistic moments and some more surreal scenes that help provide additional imagination into what’s being shown. A desire to reach the heights of science, and the formation of a bond between two youth that have different goals yet come together in reaching them.

This was a rather gorgeous film to take in, the cinematography frames each of the deeper moments beautifully. You get this very stylistic nostalgia type of filter going on. That helps provide a deeper look at this time in history while also allowing the more out there dreamscape type sequences to really take form. It came together in a very pleasing way, and it was excellent to take in.

There was also a great use of music in this, helping to tie together the overall feelings that were being emoted. Pair that with surprisingly great performances from the youthful leads and it all felt like a very special journey to go on. I should also mention that this is a French spoken film so I had to read subtitles and that really didn’t take me away from the experience. I was fully encaptured by what was shown here, it’s a special experience.

The Conclusion

SpaceBoy is an absolutely lovely film featuring gorgeous cinematography and excellent performances by its youthful leads. I was moved by the themes that were present here. It’s delightful in being excited about space, but also grounded in that the journey to get to where you want won’t always be easy. It has some rather big moments when some other kids interfere which was surprising to see, and I think that’s also what helps keep it realistic.

It’s about the excitement of reaching higher places and seeing everything through the lens of youth. It’s impactful, easy to watch and very well done. I will make an additional note that the language is in French, so you may have to read subtitles. I enjoyed it regardless of this, but did think it was important to make note of in case you’re coming in with certain expectations. It really did surprise me, and it was joy to view.

SpaceBoy Review at Home with Streamed Viewing during Calgary Film Festival
Screening Provided by Calgary Film

Rating Overall: 9.0