Watch Don't Come Back from the Moon

Don't Come Back from the Moon is a 2017 movie, directed by Bruce Thierry Cheung and starring James Franco, Rashida Jones, and Jeff Wahlberg. Set in a small desert town in California, the movie is a melancholic portrayal of the fragility of human relationships, longings, and aspirations. The movie opens with a narration from a teenager named Mickey (Jeff Wahlberg), who tells us how his father, an airplane mechanic, vanished into thin air one day. He abandoned his wife, Eva (Rashida Jones), and his son, leaving behind a note that read, "Don't come back from the moon." Mickey's father was not alone. The fathers of all the other boys in the town also left. They left their families and their jobs, leaving behind a trail of broken dreams and shattered hopes.

The movie explores how the absence of the fathers affects the families and the community as a whole. The boys are left to their own devices, feeling lost and uncertain about their future. They take to the abandoned houses, play with guns, and spray graffiti on the walls. Their mothers, not much better off, are left to fend for themselves, working double shifts, and worrying about their sons.

But the movie is not just about the sadness of abandonment. It is also about the resilience of the human spirit, the need to find hope where there seems to be none. Mickey wants to be a writer, and he sees his father's disappearance as a chance to escape the mundane life he has been leading. He believes that his father went to the moon and that someday he will join him there.

The other boys have their own dreams too. One wants to be an astronaut, another a musician, and a third a filmmaker. But those dreams seem so far away, almost impossible to achieve when you live in a town where nothing ever happens, where the only thing to do is to wait for something to happen.

James Franco plays Stanny, a friend of Mickey's father, who also disappears. Stanny appears in the movie as a ghost, a symbol of the boys' longing for their fathers. He tells them stories about his adventures in the world and his encounters with strange creatures. He also gives them advice on how to survive in a town where there seems to be no future.

The movie is beautifully shot, capturing the desolation of the desert town, the vastness of the sky, and the emptiness of the abandoned houses. The soundtrack, consisting mostly of ambient music and sounds, adds to the melancholic mood of the movie.

Don't Come Back from the Moon is a slow movie, and some viewers might find it too bleak and depressing. But the movie is not without hope. It suggests that even in the darkest moments, there is a glimmer of light, a chance for redemption. The boys, despite their difficult circumstances, have the courage to dream, to imagine a better life for themselves, and to hold on to the love that binds them to their families.

In conclusion, Don't Come Back from the Moon is a haunting movie that explores the themes of abandonment, longing, and resilience. It is not an easy movie to watch, but it is a movie that lingers in your mind long after you have seen it.

Don't Come Back from the Moon is a 2019 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 23 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 4.8 and a MetaScore of 63.