THE‘unusual friendship between an old woman cleaner and the Marcellus octopus is the subject of Bright creatures, starting today on Netflix. Based on the novel by Shelby Van Pelt, this film directed by Olivia Newman is a delicate tale of two painful solitudes that meet thanks to the magic of the aquatic animal. A very original story told like a bedtime story, a hymn to second chances with a magnificent Sally Field.
Luminous creaturesfilm plot on Netflix
Tova Sullivan (Sally Field) lives in the seaside town of Sowell Bay, in Washington state. Even though he is now old enough to retire, he continues to work as a cleaning lady for the municipal aquarium. She avoids loneliness by hanging out with her old friends and He spends his time chatting with the fish, especially the elderly octopus named Marcellus.
Obviously the large mollusk cannot respond but actively listensunderstanding that deep down in Tova’s heart there is loneliness and an ancient pain. One evening, Marcellus he takes one of his usual solitary walks out of the tub but gets caught in the computer wires. Fortunately, Tova finds him just in time to put it back in the water. The woman saved his life and him he promises her, in silence, that will do the same.
Also Tova he is in trouble. He put the beautiful house up for sale on the ocean because soon he should move to a retirement home. He doesn’t know, however, if he is doing the right thing. Once upon a time, he had a family. She was married to a delightful man, died after a short illness. His teenage son also passed away many years ago.
“Luminous creatures”. (Netflix)
Torva, Marcellus and Cameron
Cameron he is a young man who still doesn’t know what to do with his life. He arrives in a beat-up van in Sowell Bay Why she is looking for a man. It should be his real father, whom he never knew and of which he only has a ring with initials. His mother, who recently died of an overdose, was a troubled woman and he spent his childhood living in relatives’ homes.
All he has is a guitar and a dream: for his band to become famous. It’s a shame that the other members of the group decide to abandon him to grow up and live a more normal life.
With no money or plans, she meets Ethan (Colm Meaney) the owner of the cafe of the town, which offers him breakfast and he finds him a job right at the aquarium headquarters. The first approach between Tova and Cameron is not the best because he struggles to complete his tasks, he’s a bit too distracting.
When Marcellus camouflages himself specifically to be searched for by the two humans, thus forced to spend time together, a precious friendship is born between them. The one capable of filling every fear and giving the right amount of courage to change, in one way or another, their life.
The review of Luminous creatures
The poignant beauty of Luminous creatures can be summarized by powerful musical poetics by Leonard Cohen: «There is a crack in everything and that is where the light comes in». The story of Cameron and Tova it is a secular song in which, in the form of melancholy talewe celebrate hope lost and found again. Two wounded souls, belonging to different generationswho meet precisely at the moment of greatest pain and, together, they return to the surface thanks to a second chance in the form of a living being belonging to the sea.
Director Olivia Newman finds a way to represent this unlikely trio, in a perfectly believable way, by playing with the shots. Marcellus is an involuntary prisoner but filmed while conquering his spaces of freedom without glass walls. The two humans, however, are physically free but imprisoned by the invisible wall of their sufferings.
Yet, the talent of someone who “has more intelligence in a tentacle than a man in his entire skull” was enough and he was able to slip between the real and metaphorical cracks to finally let the light pass through.
Lewis Pullman and Sally Field. (Netflix)
The cast: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, the ending of the book
A protagonist like Sally Field, actress with 2 Oscarsit couldn’t be that the best choice. His performance is simply perfect because she manages to balance both the sense of defeat and melancholy of an elderly woman and the look of a child in front of the wonderful creature that changes her life.
Lewis Pullman, son of Bill Pullman, surprises for the excellent understanding with his famous colleague e for the freshness with which he gives substance to a young reckless man with a good heart. The ending of the film coincides with that of the novel by the writer Shelby Van Pelt, which became a real bestseller a few months after its release in 2022.
Luminous creaturesthe ending of the film (Spoiler)
The bond between the two friends it soon turns into affection of a real stepfamily. Thanks to this new sense of protection, the boy finds the courage to ask the pretty owner of Paddle’s shop out (Sofia Black-D’Elia) with whom we have a chemistry. The woman, instead, she agrees to date Eatan, who has been courting her for some time. Despite these moments of happiness, their suffering does not disappear.
Torva can’t find peace. A few hours before his son died on his sailboat, the two had argued. The sense of guilt and the fear that he has voluntarily taken his own life is a pain that he never leaves her. Cameron, Instead, he discovers that what he thought was his father is actually a homosexual friend of his mother.
Marcellus once again takes care of putting the pieces back together. The octopus, now old and sick, is about to die. The old woman decides to take him away from the aquarium and let him go into the ocean. She does it exactly in the place where her son died: a double farewell that not only restores freedom to the woman but the truth about the true owner of that ring. Finally, Cameron and Torva will no longer be alone.