Proxima

Proxima is thoughtful and beautifully crafted top-tier film-making.

Proxima is a companion piece to Ad Astra, both using journeys to space as a metaphor to examine the conflicting responsibilities of work and family and the longing for connection.

Alice Winocour's Proxima is a poignant tribute to a mother's resilience.

Unique in its genre, Proxima does something rather radical in contemplating the heavens.

The result is an immersive, often ponderous exploration of what it means to become, as Sarah puts it, "a space person."

Alice Winocour's inspiring drama orbits similar terrain as the overdone Hilary Swank Netflix series "Away," but handles everything better.

While Proxima celebrates that continued desire to reach for the stars, it is its human connection that ensures the mission’s success.

Astronauts both male and female have been ... leaving their families behind to strap themselves to rockets bound for outerspace. But Winocour makes the argument — amid extremely detailed documentary-esque preparations — that it’s harder for women.

Winocour's film as a whole creates a haunting, palpable dread that women of all backgrounds experience as they step out of the patriarchal boxes we are ever-expected to keep ourselves to, regardless of our supposed liberation.

Winocour avoids familiar pitfalls of similar sci-fi tales to focus on the human drama in a way that feels palpably real.