Starman is neither a DC comics superhero, nor a song written by David Bowie. Starman is actually a 1984 science fiction film directed by John Carpenter and starring Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen. Like many movies I’ve never heard of, my mom was the one who introduced me to Starman. It’s about a recently widowed woman who encounters an alien that assumes the form of her late husband Scott. I know that may sound creepy, but it’s actually really heartfelt. Jeff Bridges actually plays the alien (known as Starman) in an innocent manner. In the way that he doesn’t understand Earth customs like driving or eating. He also possess alien powers, including the ability to bring living creatures back to life. Which sounds similar to E.T. (see that review here), but trust me it’s different. Most of the focus is on the unconventional romance between the leads. The ending makes it seem like there should have been some kind of follow up, but nothing, not even a remake, was ever made. Even though Starman has a very smart alien story to tell. So if you’ve never seen or heard of Starman, I would highly recommend seeing it.

The Starman lights the way