Project Hail Mary
For humans to understand their condition, they need solitude. The modern understanding of the human condition is riddled with the idea that one must interact and immerse oneself with others. This is wrong. 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, "I go into my solitude to not drink out of everybody's cistern." This quote illustrates the importance of being alone.
Project Hail Mary follows schoolteacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a former, very intelligent scientist whose ideas were rejected by the scientific community. He is chosen to head into outer space by a space agency that wants to discover why a bacteria that causes Earth's sun, as well as many other suns, to die isn't happening at one system's sun.
Grace is a lost soul. He doesn't have a romantic relationship, a friendship, or a loving pet relationship. The only time he seems to find a sense of purpose is when he is with his students, as he is a very hands-on teacher. However, he can't really find much purpose in being with his students, as he spends most of his time teaching rather than connecting with them.
The phrase/concept "emotionally manipulative". If the film makes the audience feel bad for, feel good for, or, in other words, "empathize" with its characters. The filmmakers have successfully accomplished their intentions. It's similar to how people share their feelings, trying to empathize with each other. When they share their feelings, they're telling a story. Saying that sharing feelings is "emotionally manipulative" is no different from saying that when a film makes you feel bad for/good about a character, it's "emotionally manipulative". Using "emotionally manipulative" as a criticism is used to prevent any film that connects with its audience emotionally from having worth, which is every film. Connecting with the audience emotionally is a fundamental part of every story, just like connecting with other people emotionally is a fundamental part of everyone's life. If people watch films as beings incapable of feeling empathy, then every character in every film would just serve to move the plot from point A to point B. Just like if someone experienced life as being incapable of feeling empathy, then every person they ever met would be just a device like a computer or a rock, that just stays in place or helps them with a task, rather than helping them grow, or understand something about the universe.
On his space voyage, Grace meets a sentient-rock alien he names Rocky. Just like Grace, Rocky is trying to discover why the unaffected system's sun is unaffected, so the two work together to find out.
The bulk of the movie is Grace and Rocky connecting with each other.
On the mission, Grace's sense of loss is _. It's not through flashbacks or expository dialogue, but rather by just watching him.
