A young woman finds her deceased husband apparently back from the dead but with the personality of an alien in John Carpenter's 1984 film Starman. Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen give earnest, focused performances that compel similar focus from the viewer. It's a lovely romance, too.
This is one of Carpenter's lone, oddball man against the world movies, like They Live and Escape from New York. Bridges' alien visitor is certainly the most mild-mannered of the lot. Bridges plays the character with a mechanical, clicking cadence but his natural warmth can't help but come through, giving the character a nice nuance.
Karen Allen holds on tight to every line and Carpenter gives her copious closeups, making use of those massive, communicative eyes of hers. I like how she never for a moment believes the alien is her husband. Watching the two fumble their way through odd but undeniable chemistry is really charming. It's also a pleasant road movie as their journey from Denver to Arizona gives a nice context. Carpenter compared it to It Happened One Night, another romantic road movie, though Bridges and Allen aren't nearly as fractious as Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.
Starman is available this month on The Criterion Channel as part of a playlist of John Carpenter movies.
X Sonnet 1963
A half a line was cut from cookie luck.
Remember spuds when singing songs of love.
Potatoes mashed or stewed could woo a buck.
A patron courts a waitress hand and glove.
Entire scrolls of jokes were rolling out.
The comic court was steps from stately elks.
The forest here is choked with faerie clout.
The instrument at hand was Lawrence Welk's.
The scent of garlic bread pervades the air.
Preserving such was past the ken of man.
The tasty bread would sate an angry bear.
But people still from local grizzlies ran.
The loss of leaves has marked the fall of grace.
Abandoned books have robbed the human space.
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