September 18, 2023 · Watch the trailer
Several years ago, an unlikely biopic about unlikely heroes in the American space program took the box office by storm as “Hidden Figures” made nearly $240 million dollars and earned three Oscar nominations for telling the story of three African American mathematicians.
In somewhat surprising fashion, it’s taken almost a decade for studios to find a similar story to bring to the big screen, with Amazon Studios producing and them quietly releasing writer/director Alejandra Márquez Abella’s major film debut, “A Million Miles Away,” on their Amazon Prime streaming service this past weekend to little fanfare.
Starring veteran actor Michael Peña, “Million Miles” follows the true story of farm worker José Hernandez and his relentless pursuit to become an engineer and astronaut while remaining loyal and devoted to his close-knit family and Latino community.
Peña is the perfect choice to play José as he is able to lean into a quiet affability and charm that instantly warms the heart and Peña’s genuinely natural charisma subtly seeps into the performance as well, making José easy to root for as the film progresses. While the film isn’t particularly comic in any way, Peña keeps the mood light with his wry smile and he’s able to carry both lighter and heavier drama with ease.
For a film about relationships at its core, Peña has terrific on-screen chemistry with Rosa Salazar, who plays José’s wife Adela. Though the film doesn’t spend much time on the romantic side of their relationship, Peña and Salazar are able to cut through with nuance and some truly poignant and emotional moments play out as José and Adela’s love shines through in the ways they support each other no matter the personal cost.
The thing about making a successful biopic, especially one about someone audiences won’t already be familiar with, is that the film needs to have a tremendous hook to lure audiences in early and move at such a pace that boredom never sets in as viewers don’t come into the movie with a preconceived disposition to like the protagonist or know what’s coming next.
“Million Miles” has a bit of the hook early, setting the scene with José at a young age eager to learn about the stars and conflicted by his family’s need to work the fields rather than help him get an education. This sequence is wonderfully scored by a bilingual version of the classic song “California Dreaming” by the Mamas and the Papas that really gives the movie an early lift before Pena ever appears on screen.
Where the film ultimately suffers is the screenplay, which does a lot more telling than showing and creates an overly long, drawn out pace to the entire film as equal time is devoted to José’s pursuit of a career as an astronaut with weighty family drama. “Million Miles” works for the most part and both major themes in the film are important and handed decently well, but Abella doesn’t seem to put all the pieces together on screen consistently from a scene-to-scene basis.
The film’s production design is notable and period accurate, especially in scenes that have nothing to do with José’s space odyssey and the film does skirt around budget constraints by minimizing the amount of CGI work needed as José trains to become an astronaut, opting for more practical sets.
While it isn’t something that audiences would rush out to the theaters for, “A Million Miles Away” is a heartwarming, genuine tale with a terrific lead performance that’s worth considering for an at home watch on Amazon Prime.
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