Ad Astra is a 2019 psychological science fiction film about an astronaut Major Roy McBride who travels into space to find his long-lost father H. Clifford McBride.

I found it interesting how the idea of contact is present in several different ways. In the most obvious sense, Clifford is fully dedicated to finding signs of alien life, refusing to accept defeat when he finds proof that humans are alone in the known universe. However, most everyone else in the story is trying to make contact with each other in one way or another.

Roy tries to make contact with his ex. He tries to reconnect with his father, which can also be seen as him trying to come into contact with how he feels. On his way to Mars, the captain of the Cepheus receives a mayday call from a research station, but is unable to initiate contact with the research station. SPACECOM tries to use Roy to contact Clifford despite the fact that they don’t trust him. Roy tries to join the crew en route to Lima Project, but a misunderstanding happens when SPACECOM asks the crew to neutralize him.

In general, everyone seems to have trouble maintaining or forming some kind of contact with each other.