Voyagers

Is mankind worth saving? It’s one of the many profound things you’ll have time to ponder during “Voyagers” (2021), a slow-paced, space-based reenactment of “Lord of the Flies.” With their home succumbing to climate change, earthlings plan an 86-year mission to the nearest inhabitable planet. The eerily quiet spaceship is populated with test-tube babies turned twentysomethings who’ll need to produce two successive generations and won’t live to see touchdown. Colin Farrell plays their astronaut guidance counselor until the kids (finally) start getting a little fidgety and arise from their chemically assisted calm. Hormonal hijinks ensue, hitting all the predictable notes.

The Photograph

Learning about a Bayou romance from a generation ago, a pair of thirtysomething New York professionals uncover something about themselves in “The Photograph” (2020). Stylishly filmed, scored and acted, it’s like an African-American version of a Richard Gere film – but better, because Richard Gere isn’t in it. Instead, Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield are the leads atop a strong cast that checks all the romance-flick boxes – sassy girlfriend, wacky married couple, eager co-worker, gracious boss, etc. Yet, thanks to the story within the story and its long, slow (but not too slow) unwinding, this formula seems more elegant than usual.