Film Reviews: Fly Me to the Moon & 20,000 Species of Bees

Different Journeys

Fly Me to the Moon & 20,000 Species of Bees

By Marc Glassman

Fly Me to the Moon

Greg Berlanti, director

Rose Gilroy, script

Starring: Scarlett Johansson (Kelly), Channing Tatum (Cole), Woody Harrelson (Moe), Ray Romano (Henry), Jim Rash (Lance), Anna Garcia (Ruby), Donald Elise Watkins (Stu)

The moon landing in the summer of 1969 is one of the iconic events of the 20th century. Those of us who were alive during that time will never forget the images of Neil Armstrong emerging from the US NASA rocket ship, placing his foot on the moon, and saying that this was “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Walter Cronkite, the acclaimed news anchor for CBS-TV was famously moved on his broadcast of the event, as were people around the world. For many, it represented the highest accomplishment of Western science and was treated with reverence for decades. Lately, it’s been the subject of cynical rumours, with an emerging cult claiming that the moon landing never happened, and that the footage was faked. What was revered then is now a matter of scorn and debate in a society that no longer accepts anything at face value.

The great arguments and fascination with the moon landing offers a fabulous launch pad to a movie, which mixes history, comedy, conspiracy theory and romance into a $100 million dollar entry in the summer blockbuster sweepstakes. Fly Me to the Moon gives Scarlett Johansson a terrific opportunity to play an over-the-top marketing consultant who will stop at nothing to get her projects sold. She’s funny and quite effective as Kelly Jones, a woman with a dubious past, who is brash and amusing and sexy in scene after scene in the film. Director Greg Berlanti has paired her with Channing Tatum, who is as attractive as Johansson in his very masculine way but is no match for her effervescence and charm. As Cole Davis, NASA’s launch director, he’s supposed to be stiff and unyielding—a no-nonsense type intent on the moon program and nothing else. 

Naturally, sparks are supposed to fly between the two, but the script works against them. Too often, Tatum’s character fights Johansson’s marketer despite the reality that she’s on his side. Johansson’s Kelly has been brought in to sell the space mission to the media and senators who are no longer as interested in appropriating funds as they had been earlier in the decade. Other times, they work together effectively, even flying to a private dinner party in Louisiana to persuade an evangelical politician to support the moon landing. The film is similarly ambivalent about their romance. Tatum’s Cole is clearly infatuated with Kelly—he even tells her that she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen—but he is often cold and almost abusive towards her. Supposedly, that’s because he finds her publicity approach to be superficial but there’s no nuance in his attitude—sometimes, he’s hot and other times, totally frosty. 

Complicating the plot is Moe Berkus, a sleek government agent working for the notorious President of the time, Richard Nixon. As played by Woody Harrelson, Moe is creepy but enormously effective. It’s Moe who is manipulating Johansson’s Kelly—and he’s the one who comes up with the bizarre idea, which places the straight-arrow space program as represented by Tatum’s Cole against a strangely fictional approach to the moon landing that could have been proposed by the conspiracy theorists. Moe’s plan, as approved by Nixon, is to stage and shoot a moon landing produced by Kelly, just in case the real one isn’t very good or is badly shot and transmitted. 

At this point, Fly Me to the Moon becomes curiously avant-garde. We have Kelly and her director Lance staging a moon landing with cast and crew while Cole is creating the real thing with the complete NASA staff. But, of course, we’re seeing a film rendition of both versions of the story—the purported true landing and the cultish fake one. Talk about meta versions of a plot! These scenes are oddly compelling. 

Is Fly Me to the Moon a likely blockbuster hit? Sadly, no. Johansson is a true delight and Harrelson can still chew up scenery better than most. But there are no sparks between Johansson and Tatum and the story takes way too long to unfold. In the end, the film feels more confused than clever. No moon dust was scattered over this attempt at a heavenly success. 

20,000 Species of Bees

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, director and script

Starring: Sofia Otero (Aitor/Coco/Lucia), Patricia Lopez Arnaiz (Ane), Ane Gabarain (Lourdes), Itziar Lazkano (Lita), Sara Cozar (Leire), Martxelo Rubio (Gorka)

A beautifully made coming-of-age film about a transgender child and their family, 20,000 Species of Bees is the kind of off-beat drama that occasionally emerges from the farthest reaches of Europe but never seems to be made in Canada or the United States. A strange combination of bohemian and naturalistic sensibilities directed and written by first-time feature filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, it offers up life as it is: chaotic, willful, upsetting but ruled by love. Set in the Basque region of the Spanish northeastern region, in the glorious Pyrenees mountain range, it is a life-embracing film about difference, and how people learn to accept it.

20,000 Species of Bees offers the viewer an intriguing narrative about an extended family of Basques, who live on both sides of the mountains, in France and Spain. Ane, a mother of three, decides to leave Bayonne in France for the summer with her children and return to her village in the main Basque region in Spain.  A sculptor, she wants to make work at the kiln and studio where her father had achieved local fame decades earlier. Perhaps more urgently, she wants to have some distance from her husband, Gorka, with whom she is drifting apart. Back home, with her sister Leire, aunt Lourdes and widowed mother Lita, she will have the time to pursue her art while the others embrace her older son and daughter and, most importantly, the youngest, a lovely ambiguous 8-year-old named Aitor, who some call Coco but is eventually renamed as the story progresses.

While Ane’s dilemmas, which range from romantic to familial but also include the possibility of attaining respectability through a possible job as an art teacher at a French university, form part of Solaguren’s narrative, the focus is on the gorgeous, troubled Coco. As played by Sofia Otero, Coco/Aitor is uncomfortable in their own skin. To immerse their body in a river is an unacceptable assertion. Though Coco/Aitor are continually praised for the beauty of their face and hair, nothing can shake the dread they feel about themselves. Ane’s response is to praise her child—but it isn’t enough.

The film comes to life in scenes when Aunt Lourdes offers quiet belief and acceptance to the child. By listening to Coco/Aitor and forcing the child to do life-embracing activities like swimming, Lourdes helps to build confidence in someone who is deeply unhappy. It’s not enough to be loved and praised when, deep down, Coco/Aitor is profoundly upset and displeased with who they are. Acceptance from others isn’t enough; one has to love oneself. Lourdes is a truly positive character in the village; she is a beekeeper, an ancient and highly respected occupation, which sustains jobs, gives medical help, and creates beeswax, an effective substitute to the sculpting material Ane uses for her work.

Inevitably, Coco/Aitor’s crisis leads to an assertion that she is now a girl: Lucia, an early saint who resisted persecution. In a dramatic sequence, Coco/Aitor goes missing and is only called back to the village by the new name of Lucia. Solaguren’s film allows the adults to embrace this Basque child without suggesting that everything will be wonderful in the future. There will be future dilemmas but at least, this child has been treated with love and maturity as she becomes herself.

20,000 Species of Bees has been garnering prizes around the world for its optimistic, humanistic approach to a controversial narrative. The film won three awards after its debut at the Berlin Film Festival, the most important being best performance for Sofia Otero. It has since won prizes at Seattle, Hong Kong, Calgary, and Guadalajara, to name just a few. This is film that has genuinely won accolades worldwide for its humanism and artistic achievement.

Should you see it? Yes—and bring a friend.