At The Theater

“Ad Astra” is the new science-fiction film starring Brad Pitt as astronaut Roy McBride and Tommy Lee Jones as his late astronaut father, Clifford. The title is Latin for “To the Stars” and points to the perilous journey Roy must make to find out what happened to his father’s doomed expedition 30 years earlier as the first to the outer reaches of the solar system. It’s a journey he must make because the state of literally everything is at stake. What really happened to his father? Roy must try to unravel a mystery and uncover secrets that challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos.

For science fiction fans, this one is a winner. In terms of theme and scope, think of Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) and Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” (2014). More to the point, consider the nature of science fiction. In film, it seems to become less fiction and more science all the time. (Some months ago, I gazed for a half hour at an image taken by the Cassini probe studying Saturn. In the background is a tiny pinprick of light: Earth. It makes you think.)

But good science fiction isn’t really about outer space. It’s about us, our connections, and the journeys we have to make between each other–which are vast. The issues are universal and fundamental: How do we deal with something that challenges our relationships with our mothers or fathers? How do we separate our personal feelings from what we know we have to do to set things right, or try? Good science fiction has always explored what makes us human, what threatens us, how we live with the things we create, and what redeems us when it goes wrong. Sometimes, we have to go a long, long way to discover the bonds between us.

“Ad Astra,” rated PG-13 with a run time of two hours, plays at the Liberty October 4-8. Visit http://www.libertytheater.org/cinema for show times and admission prices, or call 509-382-1380 for more information.