Film Pick of the Week: Remarkably Bright Creatures - review by Yvette Huddleston

Sally Field stars as widow Tova Sullivan who since the death of her husband has kept herself to herself mostly – with the exception of occasionally meeting up with a few old friends who are part of a knitting club – and working nights as a cleaner at the local aquarium. She takes her work there seriously and she has developed a bond with the large elderly octopus Marcellus who she chats to as she polishes the glass tanks, mops the floors and generally tidies up after the day’s visitors. Marcellus – whose wise thoughts and observations are voiced by Alfred Molina – likes Tova, one of the few humans he has any time for, but senses that there is a great unresolved sadness that she is carrying.

The arrival in town of a young man, Cameron (Lewis Pullman), a would-be rock star who lives in a campervan, brings about some changes in Tova’s quiet, ordered life. When she has a fall at work and twists her ankle badly, she is advised by her kind boss to take some time off and Cameron, who needs the money, replaces her temporarily. Tova is not impressed with his cleaning skills (or rather, his lack of them) and takes to going in to supervise him while he works. Although they initially get off on the wrong foot, a tender friendship begins to blossom between them. As they start to confide in each other, we learn that tragedy has visited them both and shaped the way in which they relate to the world and to other people.

Cameron was abandoned by his addict mother as a child and since her recent death has been trying to track down the father he never knew. Tova wants to try and help to do that, but in fact ultimately it is Marcellus who holds the key to both of them finding some kind of healing and closure. In the meantime, there is some potential romance for Tova, in the form of genial local grocery store owner Ethan (Colm Meaney) and for Cameron who gets to know Avery (Sofia Black-D'Elia), who runs a surf and paddle shop in the town.