Week of Friday, September 20, 2019 | Vol. 7, No.38
Check da Scene
Grinds & Da Kines For Your Weekend
SET UP FOR A LONG RUN
Koloa Rum Company celebrates decade of great pours
www.kauaicountyfarmbureau.org
how Best in eS at the Vegetabulai County 2019 Ka Bureau Farm ir! Fa
SATURDAYS 9:30am –1pm
On the Kauai Community College Campus
Tian Sheng Lin with his Award winning Bell Peppers!
From Farmers Market to Farm Fair The Kauai County Farm Bureau Supports Agriculture
2 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, September 20, 2019
TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK
FRIDAY
CLIMATE STRIKE GATHERING 1 p.m., Kauai Community College Part of the youth-led Global Climate Strike. Gather at the KCC entrance for sign-waving followed by a bike ride to the mayor’s office for a declaration for a climate emergency. Info: 822-9224 FREE BUS RIDES Riders ride free all day on The Kauai Bus. SATURDAY
MOVIE NIGHT ON THE LAWN 6:30 p.m. All Saints Episcopal Church and Preschool, Kapaa Back-to-back movies are “A Dog’s Way Home” and “What Men Want.” Proceeds from items purchased at concession will go toward activities and mission trips for the Ke Akua Youth Group. Info: 822-4267 ELECTRIC VEHICLE FESTIVAL 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Anaina Hou Community Park, Kilauea Learn about driving electric vehicles from Kauai owners. Info: 635-7678 or sonja@kauaiev.org INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP DAY 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Nukoli‘i Beach near Hanamaulu Kauai Beach Resort, B-Rad Foundation and Surfrider Kauai join forces for a local cleanup, joining others around the world in the international event led by the Ocean Conservancy. Data collected from around the world will be compiled for a report on ocean debris and beach litter. Lunch provided by Kauai Beach Resort. Yoga offered with Alexandria B. Cordero, founder and CEO of Samsati Yoga, from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m. Volunteers needed. Info: 635-2593 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe A community effort to support Eleele School students. Peace walk begins at Storybook Theatre on Hanapepe Road at 5 p.m. Entertainment includes music, dance and poetry. Food included. Info: Gerald Hirata, 346-4650, or Mark Jeffers, 634-4870 SUNDAY
SIERRA CLUB HIKE Ka‘aka‘anui Beach (Larsen’s) and Waipake coastal walk on the North Shore Low intermediate, 4.5 miles. Leader: Julio Magalhães, 650-906-2594
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 2 to 4 p.m., Lydgate Park, Wailua Sponsored by the Interfaith Roundtable of Kauai. Live music, interactive performances, folk dancing and light refreshments. Info: Deborah Burnham, 651-4534 or aloha@meditateinhawaii.org ELECTRIC CAR EVENT 1 to 3 p.m., West Kauai Technology & Visitor Center, Waimea Surfrider Kauai representatives will be available to discuss clean-ocean activities. Free. WALK THE 88 SHRINES Guided tours 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., Lawai International Center, Lawai Valley Info: 639-4300 MONDAY
WESTSIDE PLAN UPDATE MEETING 4 to 7 p.m., Hanapepe Congregational Church The county Planning Department is updating the Hanapepe-Eleele and Waimea-Kekaha development plans, and has released a draft of the West Kauai Community Plan covering all those areas. Free meals provided. Info: 241-4050, westkauaiplan.org TUESDAY
FARMERS’ MARKET 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Historic County Building. DISTANCE LEARNING INFORMATIONAL MEETING 5:30 to 7 p.m., Kauai Community College Learning Resource Center room 124B Fall 2020 University of Hawaii at Manoa Shidler School of Business executive programs will be discussed, including master’s degree programs in a variety of disciplines. RSVP: www2.shildre.hawaii.edu/executive/ info-session. Info: 245-8330, uckauai@hawaii.edu SIERRA CLUB HIKE Maha‘ulepu coastal hike, Poipu. Moderate four miles round-trip. Leader: Lee Gately 661-373-4834
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Bill Buley | bbuley@thegardenisland.com | 245-0457 ADVERTISING: displayads@thegardenisland.com | 245-0425 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: tgiclassified@thegardenisland.com | 246-0325
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CHEERS TO 10 YEARS!
Koloa Rum celebrates a decade with major expansion announcement TGIFR!DAY
WEDNESDAY
LIVE MUSIC 6 to 8 p.m., All Saints Episcopal Church gym, Kapaa A Hawaiian slack-key guitar and ukulele concert. Info: 826-1469
Photos courtesy Koloa Rum Company
ABOVE: Koloa Rum is poured in some of the finest restaurants and watering holes across Kauai. ON THE COVER: The large variety of specialty rums is seen against the backdrop of Waita Reservoir on the South Shore, the largest freshwater body of water in Hawaii.
S
eptember 2019 marks a significant milestone for Hawaii’s award-winning Koloa Rum Company, as the brand celebrates a decade in business on the island of Kauai. Having achieved year-over-year, double-digit sales and revenue increases since year one, the Koloa Rum Company’s planned expansion will allow for increased production and distribution to accommodate the brand’s growth. SEE CHEERS, PAGE 4
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TGIFR!DAY | Friday, September 20, 2019 | 3
NEW KONA BREWING CO. BREWERY EXPECTED TO BE FULLY OPERATIONAL NEXT SPRING Facility to include solar panels, other environmentally friendly features
reasons the company built the new brewery. “What it did was also give
us an opportunity to look at our brewing practices and focus on what our biggest
ethos is, the environment SEE BREWERY, PAGE 4
CHELSEA JENSEN WEST HAWAII TODAY
C
onstruction is moving along at Kona Brewing Co.’s new brewery, with the first kegs and cans of beer targeted to roll off the line in the spring of 2020. After grading and laying the concrete pad upon which the 30,000-squarefoot brewery and canning facility will sit, crews are currently raising the metal girders that’ll frame the building and installing the brewing equipment, including brewing vessels and fermenting tanks. At full operation, the brewery will turn out upward of 100,000 barrels per year. “We’re looking to be all pau by the end of February, beginning of March,” said Bill Smith, Kona Brewing general manager of Hawaii operations, last week. With the brewery and canning operation expected to be up and running by then, the first beer is anticipated to be ready for consumption around March or April. Kona Brewing, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, broke ground on the Old Kona Industrial Area facility in March 2016, and initially expected to be in full operation by early 2018, ahead of the silver anniversary. In 2017, that date was pushed back to
Shops, Restaurants & Services at Ching Young Village:
Laura Ruminski / West Hawaii Today
Mary Smith stands under one of the 100-barrel tanks at the site of the Kona Brewing Co.’s new brewery.
and has brewed the majority 2019 by setbacks with the facility’s wastewater system of its beer in Oregon and at that’ll render wastewater to other breweries throughout the country. R1 reusable water. With the new brewery’s Smith said construction, annual capacity of 100,000 which began with grading barrels, the equivalent of the 2.6-acre lot, got under200,000 kegs, Kona Brewing way shortly after building permits were received from Co. will move most of its production of cans and kegs Hawaii County in March. for Hawaii back to Hawaii Things will go pretty quick Island. The current facility, from here, as all the matewhere tap beer offered in rials needed are already on Hawaii is brewed, puts out the island, allowing “us to bring this brewery to life in a about an eighth of that, at just 12,000 barrels annually. more expedited manner.” “Everything that comes “We appreciate everyout of here will be shipped body’s patience and support,” he said. “We’re looking all over the islands,” Smith forward to having everyone said. Bottled beer will still continue to come from facilicome through for a tour when we’re up and running.” ties on the mainland. Bringing production Kona Brewing Co., home, thus reducing the imfounded in 1994, currently distributes its products in all pact on the environment by cutting shipping between 50 states and 30 countries. the Hawaii and the mainThe company merged with land, was just one of the Craft Brew Alliance in 2010
Activity Shack
Hanalei River Healing
Na Pali Properties
Aloha from Hanalei
Hanalei Surf Backdoor
Northside Grill
Aloha Juice Bar
Hanalei Strings
Ohana Shop
Alo La‘a Yoga & Dance
Honua Engineering
On the Road to Hanalei
Big Save
Hot Rocket
Pat’s Taqueria
Billabong
Hula Moon Gifts of Hanalei
Pedal and Paddle
Blue Tiki Tattoo
Infinite Arts
Reside Kauai LLC
Chocolat Hanalei
Jo-Jo Shave Ice
Seahorse Boutique
DeCamp Construction
Kalypso Restaurant
Spinning Dolphin
Divine Planet
Kauai Vacation Rentals
Styles Studio Hanalei
Chicken in a Barrel BBQ
Kokonut Kids
Sunrise Emporium
Hanalei Bay Pizzeria
L&L Hawaiian BBQ
Timeshare Resales
Hanalei Cafe
Lee Acupuncture
Tresor Rare
Hanalei Poke
Na Pali Catamaran
Village Snack & Bakery
You’ll find us in the Heart of Hanalei... Jane F. Abramo
PRINCIPAL BROKER
808-639-3773 P.O. Box 475, Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii 96714 Bus: 808-826-7272 • Fax: 808-826-7665 jane@napaliprop.com • napaliprop.com
4 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, September 20, 2019
Cheers
Continued from Page 2
“We are so proud of our brand’s journey over these past 10 years, and know we wouldn’t be here without the support of our community here on Kauai and our fans around the world,” said Bob Gunter, CEO of Koloa Rum Company. “This expansion is a dream come to life, and we look forward with anticipation and excitement for the future that lies ahead.” Plans will more than double the size of the current operation to a 45,000-squarefoot distillery and warehouse at the company headquarters, which will also include a
tasting room, company store and free-standing café. The company will broke ground for the new distillery on Sept. 18 with a traditional Hawaiian blessing and community celebration. To recognize and honor the agricultural heritage of the town of Koloa, where commercial sugar production operations were first introduced in 1835, expansion plans also include the planting and cultivation of 10 to 12 acres of sugarcane fields on site. Additionally, Koloa Rum will refurbish old, plantation-camp structures into workforce housing and a museum that will tell the story of the rich history of sugarcane production in the area.
We are so proud of our brand’s journey over these past 10 years.”
Gunter
Bob Gunter Chief Executive Officer, Koloa Rum Company
“Cultivating and using our own sugarcane is a big part of our history on Kauai, and that’s very important to us,” said Gunter. “We will be growing and processing cane on site to make our rum, and we are actively partnering with local farmers to increase sources of cane
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——
sugar on the island, with the goal of one day being able to use only Kauai-grown cane in our products.” Koloa Rum Company was founded to create superior Hawaiian rums and ready-to-drink cocktails using locally sourced ingredients. In doing so, Koloa Rum provides quality employment opportunities for the community of Kauai and provides meaningful support to the local agricultural industry by increasing cultivated acreage and preserving open space. The new headquarters for Koloa Rum Company will be in Koloa, along Maluhia Road across from Anne S. Knudsen Park. Completion of the project is currently projected for September 2020. Established in 2009, Ko-
Brewery Continued from Page 3
and sustainability,” Smith said. Among the sustainability features of the new facility is what Smith called the Kona Resource Reclaim Center, an aerobic-anaerobic treatment system that’ll render wastewater to R1, the highest-quality reuse water, for irrigation and other uses, such as washing down floors and the kegs outside.
Courtesy Koloa Rum Company
The Kauai Coffee flavor is just one of Koloa Rum Company’s many specialty varieties.
loa Rum Company produces artisanal, single-batch, Hawaiian rum and readyto-drink cocktails at its distillery in Kalaheo, and operates the island’s first distilled-spirits tasting room
and company store. The company’s award-winning portfolio includes its premium Kauai White, Gold, Dark, Aged, Spice, Coconut and Coffee rums.
The company’s also turning to solar, installing panels and a battery system that’ll mitigate electrical use by 25 to 30%, Smith said. Another aspect, which Smith was “quite unique” to the new brewery, is a CO2 (carbon dioxide) reclamation system that’ll allow the company to capture the gas naturally produced during fermentation to use later in the process. Currently, CO2 has to be brought from the mainland and processed on Oahu before being shipped
to Hawaii Island, increasing the cost and impact on the environment. “As big as this project is, really what it continues: Just the way of being of Kona Brewing — being more than just a brewery,” Smith said, explaining the company’s main focus is based on those set by founders, the father-son team of Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa back in 1994, to give back to the community and have a positive impact on the environment.
TGIFR!DAY | Friday, September 20, 2019 | 5
CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL DAY(S) OF PEACE ON KAUAI Hanapepe and Lydgate festivities set TGIFR!DAY
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verybody is invited to celebrate The International Day of Peace at Lydgate Park from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Experience peace togeth-
er through family fun. Those of all ages will have opportunities for listening, singing and dancing. This gathering is sponsored by the Interfaith Roundtable of Kauai. The program will feature the classical trumpet stylings of the Rev. Kiah Abendroth. Abendroth is a passionate performer and interfaith minister on Kauai. She holds a master’s degree in music, specializing in classical
trumpet. Her hope and prayer is to uplift the community and help bring people together through music. She enjoys performing throughout the island as well as offering religious services as a minister. The sound feast, led by Abendroth, has a menu of instruments, and will include performers Charity Ann and Scott Stouder, and Native American flute playing by Dante Cernobori.
ROBERTSON LOOKS BACK AT THE BAND IN ‘SINEMATIC’ SCOTT BAUER ASSOCIATED PRESS
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obbie Robertson, the former lead songwriter and guitar player for The Band, taps into his love of films for “Sinematic,” his first new studio album in eight years. The inspiration for “Sinematic” (UMe) shouldn’t come as a surprise given Robertson’s close and longtime friendship with filmmaker Martin Scorsese. While the film-inspired songs are mostly hits with a couple misses, the 76-year-old Robertson is dialed-in when taking a bittersweet look back at his days with The Band in “Once Were Brothers.” “Once were brothers/Brothers no more,” Robertson sings with his signature raspy drawl. “We lost our connection/After the war/There’ll be no revival/ There’ll be no encore.” The track was written for an upcoming documentary about The Band based on Robertson’s memoir with Scorsese as executive producer.
Last Waltz,” shares vocals with Robertson on “I Hear You Paint Houses,” a duet about the maIt’s not the only song where fia code for hiring a hit man. “The Shadow,” a nostalgic Robertson turns inward. On “Dead End Kid,” he sings about look back at the crime radio drama, could have easily been overcoming obstacles and assumptions made about him ditched without losing anyas he yearned to “play my song thing. The otherwise splendid record, Robertson’s sixth solo out across this lake.” effort, also includes a pair of Van Morrison, who was on the bill for The Band’s farewell hauntingly beautiful instruconcert memorialized in “The mentals.
The program will include a song circle for families with babies and young children, as well as an interactive performance by the Sacred Earth Choir, folk dancing, and a closing Dance of Universal Peace. Light refreshments will be provided. The International Day of Peace, also known as “Peace Day,” is observed around the world each year on Sept. 21. Established in 1981 by unanimous United Nations resolution, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to peace above all differences, and to contribute to building a culture
of peace. The IROK was formed in 2005 to bring together representatives of all religions and spiritual beliefs to encourage harmony, understanding and service based on unity and cooperation. In Hanapepe, Eleele School fourth-grade students will be gathering this morning at the Storybook Theatre to create expressions, including posters and banners, for the parade Saturday that will start at the Storybook Theatre on Hanapepe Road and end up at the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji on Kaumualii Highway in Hanapepe.
••• MUSIC REVIEW
11-10pm • Sun-Wed and 11-1am thurs-Sat
(808) 826-6277 5-5134 Kuhio Hwy, Hanalei tHenui.com
The students from Eleele School are also beneficiaries of the Peace Day gathering that starts at 5 p.m. Saturday and runs through 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to join in the Peace Day celebration that starts with the parade at 5 p.m. and includes a sea of life-sized, marine-life inflatables, costumes gallery, any foot fits by Aloha Slippahs, corn hole toss, origami paper-crane folding, card games, personal peace messages, and talking story about peace. A special Eleele School expressions of peace exhibit will also be set up.
6 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, September 20, 2019
WELCOME TO ORCLAND: LORD OF THE RINGS TO FILM IN NEW ZEALAND NICK PERRY ASSOCIATED PRESS
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mazon announced Wednesday it will film its upcoming television series “The Lord of the Rings” in New Zealand, marking a return of the orcs, elves and hobbits to the country they became synonymous with over the course of six movies directed by Peter Jackson. Amazon Studios said it had found a great location with worldclass sets and skilled staff. It said pre-production had already started and production on the series would begin in the city of Auckland over the coming months. “As we searched for the location in which we could bring to life the primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle-earth, we knew we needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains,” showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay wrote in a statement. But Amazon wouldn’t reveal the extent of its plans for the series. It declined to say how much it
Nick Perry / Associated Press file
A giant sculpture of Gollum, a character from “The Hobbit,” is displayed in the Wellington Airport in 2012.
plans to spend, how many seasons the show will run, or when it will debut. Some have speculated Amazon could spend more than $1 billion on the series as it looks to take on
other streaming services like Netflix with its Prime Video service. New Zealand’s Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford welcomed the news, saying the series would give a boost to the screen
industry and create hundreds of new jobs. “It’s a hugely significant piece of popular culture,” Twyford said. “And it now has a special place in New Zealanders hearts as well. We are
part of Middle-earth.” The series will be eligible for a 20% screen grant rebate that will be funded by taxpayers. The conservative lobby group Taxpayers’ Union said the rebate meant every New Zealand household could end up paying more than $100. “Who would seriously name Amazon as the most deserving recipient of our hard-earned tax dollars?” the group wrote in a release. But Twyford said it will be money well spent. “This is not a charity issue,” he said. “This is about bringing jobs, investment, and economic development to New Zealand.” The series will be based on the fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. Amazon said it would explore new story lines that precede “The Fellowship of the Ring.” The show won’t be connected with the New Line Cinema movies, although Jackson has previously said he’d be interested in helping out. “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy and “The Hobbit” movie trilogy combined grossed nearly $6 billion at the box office.
‘LETTERS FROM HOLLYWOOD’ IS A MOVIE NERD’S DREAM DOUGLASS K. DANIEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
“L
etters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Moviemaking,” published by Abrams, compiled and edited by Rocky Lang and Barbara Hall Paul Newman passes on an offer to co-star with Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl,” saying he can’t carry a tune or dance. Col. Tom Parker suggests a
story line for a movie starring his client Elvis Presley in which the singer plays a young man raised by the gypsies who had kidnapped him as a baby — “with a good love angle involved.” A 17-year-old Tom Hanks, writing on notebook paper, pitches himself to be “discovered” by the director of “The Sting,” George Roy Hill, who happens to be the uncle of some of his classmates. “My looks are not stunning,” writes the future two-time Os-
catty comment. Fans of classic films who know the difference between a Sturges and a Selznick or a Kazan and a Karloff car winner. “I am not built like will be intrigued or amused by a Greek God, and I can’t even private reflections such as: grow a mustache, but I figure —”Now I have reformed if people will pay to see certain from all that foolishness of films (‘The Exorcist,’ for one) gabbing around, Its one of they will pay to see me.” “Letters from Hollywood” is the lowest forms of art there is, is after dinner speaking, and a collection of movie-related correspondence from archives, besides I am an Actor now, libraries and private collections. they are on the verge of putThe nuts and bolts of filmmak- ting me in sex parts, (that’s not six, that’s SEX).” — Humorist ing are mixed with personal turned movie star Will Rogers, reflections and occasional ••• BOOK REVIEW
declining to address a bankers group, circa 1926. —”Except as a scientific achievement, I am not sympathetic to this ‘sound’ business. I feel, as so many do, that it is a mechanical resource, that it is a retrogressive and temporary digression in so far as it affects the art of motion picture acting, — in short that it does not properly belong to my particular work.” — Actor Ronald Colman, 1928. Nonetheless, he was a major star in the first three decades of talking
pictures. —”I’ve seen the picture, and it’s foul. It doesn’t leave Mr. Hearst with one redeeming feature. Nobody but Orson would have dared do a thing like that, and I personally hope it will never be shown on the screen.” — Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper on “Citizen Kane,” its inspiration, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and director Orson Welles, 1941. The movie is widely regarded today as the greatest ever made.
CHECK DA SCENE Loghan Hanna, Cruz Ayonon, Chloe Ayonon
TGIFR!DAY | Friday, September 20, 2019 | 7
DENNIS FUJIMOTO TGIFR!DAY
Cody Nishek, William Trugillo
Nanea Sproat-Armitage, Ryder Armitage
KICKING GOOD TIME
B Kaika Melchor, Nainoa Melchor
Kainoa Nakazawa, Aubree Nakazawa
Brooklyn Silva, Jordynn Ho‘okano, Zhara Corpuz
Kimi Pereira, Elias Pereira, Yvonne Pereira
Tobin Strong, Evan Strong, Owen Strong, Amber Strong
Blake Braun, Kaia Melchor, Nainoa Melchor, Makaio Melchor, Micah Hussey, Kaikai Melchor
illy Kaneholani has four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren playing soccer in the Kauai Soccer Association fall season games. “I guess it’s time to spend my Sundays at the park,” Kaneholani said, seeking shade from the broiling heat that blanketed the north Vidinha soccer fields. The KSA hosts over 20 games for youth ranging from 8 and under through 14 and under each Sunday now through Nov. 3, under the auspices of U.S. club soccer. Games run 10 a.m. until well into the afternoon, and there is no admission charge.
Kaimana Moraes, Kevin Devitt, Kyle Foss
8 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, September 20, 2019
A SPACE ODYSSEY WITH BRAD PITT IN ‘AD ASTRA’ JAKE COYLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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aving stayed rigorously close to his native New York for much of his career, writer-director James Gray has lately been making up for lost time. His last film, “The Lost City of Z,” journeyed into the Amazon, circa early 20th century. His latest, “Ad Astra,” skitters across the solar system like a stone skipped through space. Both films aren’t merely changes in setting. They’re inherently about leaving home — the sacrifice entailed, the wonders to be discovered, the cost of obsessions that require pursuit. It’s fitting that they follow Gray’s masterpiece, “The Immigrant,” a profound and melancholic tale of passage. Whether orbiting New York or Neptune, Gray has been on the move for some time. “Ad Astra,” starring Brad Pitt as an astronaut in the near future, is easily the most expensive production yet for Gray (“We Own the Night,” ‘’Two Lovers”). Its timing is fortuitous. Coming on the heels of Pitt’s radiant performance in “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,” ‘’Ad Astra” seems almost like an encore amid all the (deserved) celebration of its lead performer, a singular star in a movie universe with few that can match his luster. But “Ad Astra,” more intimate than it is majestic, is much more than a rocket-fueled vehicle for its star. It’s a ruminative, mythical space adventure propelled by father-son issues of cosmic proportions. Pitt’s Roy McBride is ordered to the far reaches of the solar system to make contact with his previously presumed dead father, a legendary space explorer named H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones). He’s feared to have gone mad,
••• MOVIE REVIEW
Gray, a more restrained director, gives us little of Roy’s earthly life, something that dulls the movie’s emotional arc when Roy begins to look backward. Where I think “Ad Astra” misses the mark is in so closely marrying its subtext with its text. Roy is navigating his relationship to his absent father both literally and figuratively. Daddy issues, alone, can take you only so far, even if it’s to Neptune. Aside from verging on the one-note, that focus constricts the very linear, very self-contained “Ad Astra,” a taut but inflexible chamber piece in a genre given to symphony. That minimalism, though, is also part of the considerable appeal of “Ad Astra.” The placid surface of Pitt’s carefully calibrated performance slowly cracks. And it’s often Francois Duhamel / 20th Century Fox via AP riveting to watch how Gray reBrad Pitt is ready for a trip to space in a scene from “Ad Astra,” in some theaters today. makes fairly familiar science-fiction my mind to linger on that which is terrain. Working with cinematogis Roy’s father, whom he hasn’t and is suspected of having somenot important,” he says early in the rapher Hoyte van Hoytema (who seen since he was a youngster, thing to do with power surges film, pledging his devotion to the adds significantly to the implicaplaying havoc with Earth’s elecalso shot “Interstellar”), Gray brings mission. It’s a line that will come tronics. In the film’s staggering first tions of the journey. his typically formalist style and Pitt’s astronaut is a solitary figure, to mean something else to Roy as firm command to stripped-down moments, McBride is working on a he gets further and further from taciturn and cool under pressure. miles-high antenna, like Jack on a scenes that approach the sublime. home (he leaves behind an exbeanstalk to the sky, when a surge Much of the charisma he so efA dazzling chase sequence with fortlessly displayed in “Once Upon wife, played by Liv Tyler), and goes buggy-riding pirates on the moon sweeps over it. Explosions follow deeper and deeper into his — and is depicted nearly soundlessly. a Time ... in Hollywood” has gone and McBride plummets through his father’s — obsessions. The into hiding, replaced with a more the stratosphere. Gray has a gift for shrinking nature of ambition gets decon“Ad Astra” is mapped like “Apoc- pensive and subtle performance. massive set pieces and enlarging His space voyage comes in contact structed. Grandiosity gets toppled private dramas. In “Ad Astra,” he alypse Now.” (Gray is so devoted a by elemental humanity. Coppola fan that he ranks dinners with a handful of colorful figures, travels 2.7 billion miles through Gray, of course, is only the most space. It’s a long way to go for a all of them underused (Donald by the director’s oeuvre .) Instead recent master-filmmaker to seek Sutherland, Natasha Lyonne, of an ominous, top-secret trek talk with your dad, but a fair disexistential truths in the remoteness tance for uncovering a ray of hope Ruth Negga, a pair of rabid space down a Vietnamese river toward of space. There was Claire Denis’ Colonel Kurtz, McBride is hopping baboons). But Roy’s chiefly in in a lifeless void. dialogue with himself and the old “High Life” earlier this year and between planetary stations (a “Ad Astra,” a 20th Century Fox revideo transmissions from his father. Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” in lease, is rated PG-13 by the Motion string of colonized bases exist on 2014. The latter bears some similar Picture Association of America for In copious amounts of voice the moon and Mars, with Neptune over and frequent confessional-like DNA with “Ad Astra.” But Nolan the next destination) en route to some violence and bloody images, lingered much more on the life another missing hero-turned-psy- psychological evaluations, Roy and for brief strong language. and family left behind by its space Running time: 124 minutes. Three chopath, with a mission to poten- narrates his psychological voyage traveler (Matthew McConaughey). stars out of four. through the stars. “I will not allow tially search and destroy. That this