A hundred years ago, Cecila Payne - later Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin - has discovered what stars are made of, and with this discovery revolutionized astrophysics. But her thesis claiming just that was suppressed by her teachers because it contradicted scientific consensus, and later one of them, upon finding Cecilia's theories correct after all, published them as his own findings. In the here and now, Grace (Kate Ginna) has been fascinated by this story all her life, and now she's writing a thesis about Cecilia and wants to publish her story as well. But she's turned down by publisher after publisher, until she attracts the interest of journalist Spike Randall (Matt Bogart), who wants to get her on Annette Gordon-Reed's (herself) talkshow for maximum exposure, but wants her to make the whole thing a little more accessible, and thus tries to make her change things around during a lengthy discussion in a library, a discussion that's overheard by dancer Diana (Lei Nico), who eventually steps in and makes an effort to try to prevent Diana from giving away her story to a man, just like Cecilia gave away her findings a century ago, and uses very unusual means to do so ...

Frankly, in plain writing, this film doesn't sound as if it had much to offer (other than the true story of Cecila Payne-Gaposchkin) as its main conflict is a little too on-your-nose and too unexciting at the same time - but it's really how the story's told that makes Stargazer special, it ever so often drifts off into pure fantasy, features several dance routines, shows a certain predilection for the absurd and has an eccentric streak to it. And well fleshed-out characters with interesting arcs played by a very able cast, and an elegant directorial effort also help make this an unusual but very worthwhile ride.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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