Author Shelby Van Pelt must be pleased; book-to-film translations aren’t often treated with this much respect.
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| Although Tova (Sally Field) finds it difficult to share her private anguish with anybody else, she confides everything to Marcellus, the Giant Pacific octopus who resides in the oceanarium where she works ... and he understands far more than she could imagine. |
But the buoyant, rapturous result definitely captures the story’s heart, and all three key characters are portrayed marvelously. The supporting players also are well cast; my only complaint is that we don’t get to spend enough time with some of them.
(Just in passing, one must acknowledge the unlikely coincidence of getting two octopus-themed films in such short order, following 2020’s My Octopus Teacher.)
The film opens with a voice-over introduction by Marcellus (voiced gravely, and oh-so-perfectly by Alfred Molina), a Giant Pacific octopus who is the star attraction at the (fictitious) Sowell Bay Oceanarium, in Washington’s Puget Sound. He morosely begins by acknowledging that this morning is “Day 1,404 of my captivity.”
Marcellus laments that he is “subservient to a species beneath me in every possible way,” and has little use for the throngs of people who visit each day. That’s particularly true of the grimy, obnoxious young children who press their noses against the glass tank, or lick it, and leave greasy fingerprints that become a “tiny mural”: an admittedly disgusting image that Newman highlights from Marcellus’ point of view.
(One must admit, were an octopus — or any other critter — to be that sentient and intelligent, such on-display captivity would be an ongoing nightmare.)
Marcellus makes an exception for Tova Sullivan (Sally Field), the elderly janitor/cleaner who, after hours, spends each evening lovingly wiping all the aquarium glass, scraping chewing gum from the floors, and otherwise washing, buffing and scrubbing everything thoroughly. She’s particularly fond of Marcellus, and confides in him, somehow feeling that he understands her.
To a degree, he does. He recognizes that she carries a deep sorrow: “I felt the hole in her heart.”
Marcellus also is quite the escape artist, able to slip out of his tank when impelled by boredom or curiosity. We suspect that he periodically visits other tanks, while pointedly avoiding the one that contains savage wolf eels.
Tova is a widow, and lives alone in a gorgeous, wood-frame home built by her father. Although she keeps it cozy, the place seems too large for her; it also carries unhappy memories that — for the moment — remain hidden behind the closed door to the second bedroom. She treasures her collection of hand-carved Swedish Dala horses ... although one appears to be missing.
Tova also spends considerable time sitting alone, at the end of a long dock, staring out at the water.
She gets gentle but frequent pressure to retire, from her knitting circle friends, affectionately dubbed the “knit-wits”: Janice (Joan Chen), Mary Ann (Kathy Baker) and Barb (Beth Grant).
Elsewhere, down-on-his-luck, wannabe musician Cameron (Lewis Pullman) barely reaches town in the battered van that serves as his home. He inherited it from his mother, who died young, along with a ring and a few bits of information. Cameron’s childhood was far from happy, and he’s now on a mission to find the father he never knew, who supposedly does — or did — live in Sowell Bay.
Cameron needs a job, in order to eat and get the van repaired. By coincidence, Tova falls badly enough to injure one foot. Assuming she’ll need time off, her boss (Donald Sales, as Terry) hires Cameron to replace her. This proves a surprise, when Tova arrives as usual one evening, in order to visit Marcellus ... and finds Cameron doing rather sloppy work.
What follows is the story’s primary heart, handled with marvelous sensitivity — and frequent gentle humor — by Newman and her two stars. Field’s Tova initially is strict and no-nonsense: There’s a right way to do everything, and a wrong way. Pullman’s Cameron is understandably impatient and dismayed to be lectured in such a way.
But Tova refuses to back off, and — as time passes — her tone becomes gentler. Cameron, innately kind, recognizes that she means well. Then, too, both are subtly aware that they share private despair ... something that Marcellus also perceives.
Their growing bond is conveyed via Field’s earnest intensity, and Pullman’s often hilarious double-takes and bewildered expressions. He often seems overwhelmed and flummoxed, not quite able to express himself properly. He has spent too much time being acted upon, rather than acting.
Colm Meaney has a key supporting role as Ethan, who runs the local country store. He has his pulse on everything in town, and always is willing to help someone in need. He likes Cameron on sight, and the two are sympatico; back in the day, Ethan spent a year following the Grateful Dead. He’s also noticeably attentive with Tova, leading us to suspect a long-unfulfilled crush.
Cameron has a meet-cute moment with Avery (Sofia Black-D’Elia, beguiling and perky), the buff and feisty owner of the local paddleboard shop. She’s a spunky charmer; although her initial encounter with Cameron doesn’t seem promising, we’ve no doubt their orbits soon will intersect.
The twin mysteries unravel slowly, and credibly, given the need for Tova and Cameron to learn how to trust each other. That said, Marcellus grows frustrated by the glacial pace with which they dance around what is obvious to him.
Newman and Whittington’s thoughtful script contains numerous gentle one-liner zingers, and quite a few bits of wisdom. Most of the latter come from Marcellus, although a good one comes from somebody else, late in the story: “You’re so busy trying not to be a burden to everyone, that you’ve forgotten how to be a friend.”
Speaking of Marcellus, Newman and the film’s special effects team do an amazing job of blending footage of an actual octopus — named Agnetha, residing at the Vancouver Aquarium — with CGI magic, for the more complex scenes. The result is seamless, and enhances the ease with which we accept Marcellus as a character every bit as important as Tova and Cameron.
Too few of today’s films focus on the way regular people find their way to acceptance and happiness. Newman has handled this impeccably, and that’s no surprise; just a few years ago, she gave us a similarly sensitive and perceptive adaptation of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing.
I’m eager to see what Newman does next.
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