Out of Blue Review

Patricia Clarkson leads as Detective Mike Hoolihan - CREDIT: IMDb -

Out of Blue is the latest film from English writer and director Carol Morley and features Patricia Clarkson as a detective trying to solve the shooting of an astrophysicist while also trying to solve the demons of her past – because obviously.

The opening of Out of Blue promised pretty visuals with a sequence that traversed through space with dialogue accompanying it that was probably talking about the tininess of humanity, the oldness of space and how it’s quite big, but seeing the planetary exploration was far more interesting.

Sadly, what we see never really eclipses that and we're left with incredibly bland interiors accompanied by cinematography that captures the mustiness of light pouring through windows, and the frame is often very minimalist on details in order to keep the audience focused on the singular thing that Morley wants them to see, however, its primary effect is drabness.

The lead character, Detective Hoolihan, is invariably dressed in blacks and navies while those around her are vibrant in greens, yellows, reds and such. It allows her to stand out while maintaining the representation of dourness.

And oh boy is this dour.

It really tries to balance the science elements with the mystery, but they end up stepping on each other’s toes due to the former trying to hit you over the head with its lofty ideas while the story at hand fizzles out like a silent fart.

The plot twists and twists until you realise that you’ve just turned 360 degrees and are back where you started. Its final revelation is so obvious that I thought I’d missed something, but no... exactly what was expected.

While Out of Blue tries to deal with fairly interesting themes – facades (so many bloody mentions of facades), escaping the past, the cyclical nature of life, co-existence – they aren’t handled with any degree of subtlety, just obvious lines such as someone commenting on Hoolihan dying her hair, or characters constantly explaining the universe which is as interesting as it sounds. Last year’s Roma also portrayed life being one big loop in a more interesting way.

I found no reason to attach to any of the characters at the centre of it all, either. Clarkson’s detective is someone with a dark past – obviously – and is fed up – obviously. It’s mentioned that to investigate you must form a barrier between yourself and emotions, but while it could’ve been an interesting avenue to explore, all that I got out of it was being, and I hate this word, bored by the whole experience.

- CREDIT: IMDb -

There are enough ‘ideas’ around Hoolihan that make me think some people will find her interesting but having her in a relentlessly sombre film and the reason for her nihilism being mysterious, meant that she didn’t have any credit in the bank to pay off this despondency. She simply seemed to be another miserable detective who’s “tired of this s**t”.

In 2018’s First Man, Neil Armstrong, played by Ryan Gosling, was a character who many people had a problem engaging with due to apparently being boring, but it’s established very early on that he bottles up so much rage and misery. The film then explores how he copes with grief and how he plans on righting wrongs.

The latter is somewhat true in Out of Blue, however, the motivations, while established, just aren’t interesting enough and its emotional climax is the equivalent of a balloon releasing all of its air.

The supporting cast also regularly appear and disappear before reappearing and redisappearing resulting in a lack of investment in their characters and reactions of “oh yeah, Toby Jones is in this”.