Reaching for the Moon is one of those frustrating biopics that try to cram in so much about a famous person s life that they end up feeling superficial, rushed and ultimately unenlightening.
The famous person in question here is Elizabeth Bishop, the celebrated, influential American poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1956. Miranda Otto plays Bishop with a palpable chilliness that eventually thaws the longer she stays in Rio, the lush wonderland where she lived and loved for a fruitful and fraught period of 15 years. But getting inside her head inside her process remains elusive, leaving us at arm s length.