Martian Child is a 2007 American drama comedy film directed by Menno Meyjes and written by David Gerrold based on his 1994 novel of the same name. The film stars John Cusack as a writer who adopts a strange young man (Bobby Coleman) who believes he is from Mars. The film was theatricalally released on November 2, 2007 by New Line Cinema.
Video Martian Child
Plot
David Gordon, a popular science fiction writer, was widowed two years earlier when they tried to adopt a child, eventually matched with a boy, Dennis. Initially hesitant to adopt her own, she was attracted to Dennis because she saw aspects of herself and her childhood that were awkward on the boy.
Dennis suffers from the delusion that he is from Mars. She protects herself from harmful sunlight, wears a load to fight the weak earth's gravity, eats only Lucky Charms, and hangs upside down to facilitate her circulation. He often refers to his mission of understanding the earth and his people, taking pictures, stealing things into catalogs, and spending time consulting devices such as ambiguous toys with flashing lights that produce seemingly incomprehensible words.
After David decided to adopt Dennis, he spent time getting to know the boy, patiently persuading him out of the large cardboard box he hid, which became a metaphor for persuading him out of his embarrassment and into a new situation. We wondered if Dennis saw anything of the same passion in David that pulled him out. Soon, David is released to bring Dennis home and they meet David's dog, "Somewhere." In Dennis's bedroom is a solar projector that he says is not accurate. With the help of David's friend, Harlee and Liz's sister, David tries to help Dennis overcome his fantasies by spoiling him and encouraging him to act like everyone else. Dennis attended school but was quickly expelled for repeatedly stealing items for his collection. David tells Liz, though it's unclear whether she's genuine or sarcastic, that maybe Dennis is from Mars.
Meanwhile, David's literary agent, Jeff, encourages David to finish writing his sequel, already commissioned, which will be released shortly. David struggled to take the time to write but was regularly drawn into dealing with Dennis's problems. Finally, David crouched down to write when the flash from Polaroid Dennis's camera caught him unattended and he accidentally broke the glass. David grabs Dennis and takes him across the room. Dennis, annoyed with David's sudden act, fearing he would be sent away. David explains that he's just worried he'll be cut by the glass and that he loves Dennis more than his stuff. Convincing him that he would never send him away, he encourages Dennis to solve more things. They moved into the kitchen and broke the dishes and sprayed tomato sauce and detergent with each other. Lefkowitz, the decision maker of the Social Services, appears in the window and finds chaos. He admonished David and prepared the case review.
David encourages Dennis to come from Mars only at home; he must be from Earth elsewhere. Dennis passes the interview by saying he's pretending and continuing David's care. Later, David, now Dennis's adoptive father, tries to force Dennis to admit that he is from Earth, which Dennis responds to with pain and anger. David left Dennis with Liz to attend the disclosure of his new book, which should be the sequel to his first book. David confesses to Tina, the publisher, that she has not written a sequel, but a new book titled, Martian Child, about Dennis. In her anger, Tina makes a fuss at the party, but takes the script as David goes with Dennis.
Meanwhile, Dennis has walked away from Liz's house, along with his world artifacts' luggage. When David arrives and finds the policeman at Liz's house and finds out that the boy is missing, he remembers the place Dennis identified where he was found. David asks Harlee to drive him to the location, where they see Dennis on the outside ledge of the museum's dome roof. David climbed to where Dennis was when the police and Liz arrived. Dennis identifies the bright spotlight in the nearest cloud when someone comes to take him home, but David tries to convince him that it's just a helicopter. David promised his love for Dennis and assured him that he would never leave her. Finally Dennis surrendered to trust David and his two hugs.
David's voiceover tells of parallel children coming to our world, struggling to understand it, being like a little alien. As we enlarge Tina reading the script on the plane, we realize these are the words of the book. Tina cried.
Maps Martian Child
Cast
- John Cusack as David Gordon - Author and Father
- Zak Ludwig as young David
- Bobby Coleman as Dennis - "Martian" and Son
- Amanda Peet as Harlee - Friend
- Sophie Okonedo as Sophie - Foster Mom
- Oliver Platt as Jeff - Agent
- Joan Cusack as Liz Gordon - Brother and Aunt
- Anjelica Huston as Tina - Publisher
- Richard Schiff as Lefkowitz - Child Services Authority
- Howard Hesseman as Dr. Berg
- David Kaye as Andy
Production
Despite persistent misperceptions, the film is not based on the semi-autobiographical novel David Gerrold The Martian Child , but rather based on the short story of Hugo and the Nebula Award-winning fiction of the same name, which has caused much confusion about source material, especially for Gerrold fans in the gay community segment. Short stories do not reveal homosexuality of fictional protagonists. Only when, many years later, Gerrold rewrote and extended his story to the length of novella he chose to express his sexuality. While Gerrold, in real life, adopts a son as a gay man openly, in this film the protagonist is straight and has an interest in female love. Although Gerrold has admitted that his short story is a work of fiction, and despite the fact that the short story won many awards as a work of fiction, some members of the gay community persisted in perpetuating misperceptions that the short story was "true" and criticized the main role in the film described as straight.
Release
box office
Martian Child opened at 2,020 venues on November 2, 2007 and earned $ 3,376,669 in the first weekend, seventh at the domestic box office and third among new weekend releases. The film was closed six weeks later on December 13, after grossing $ 7,500,310 domestically and $ 1,851,434 overseas, for a total of $ 9351,744 worldwide. Based on an estimated $ 27 million budget, the film is a box office bomb.
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 33% score, based on 106 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The consensus of the site states: "Despite some charm, obvious emotional manipulation and inconsistent tone prevent Martian Children from being the sincere droney he wants." Metacritic reported 48 out of 100 ratings, based on 26 criticisms, showing "mixed or average reviews".
Home media
Martian Child was released on DVD on February 12, 2008. It opens on the # 20 DVD sales chart, selling 69,000 units for revenue of $ 1.3 million. As per the latest figures, 400,000 DVD units have been sold, earning revenue of $ 7,613,945. This does not include DVD rental/Blu-ray sales. This movie is available on Netflix stream.
Awards
References
External links
- Martian Children on IMDb
- Martian Children in Box Office Mojo
- Martian Children at Rotten Tomatoes
- Martian Children in Metacritic
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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