'Starman' Review: What's Really Out There?

Robert Stone's documentary "Starman" spends an hour and 25 minutes in the company of aerospace engineer Gentry Lee, who early in the film calls himself "one of the most fortunate people who ever lived."

Lee has never set foot in a spacecraft, yet he insists he has been to outer space; the film traces his early life as a prodigy, his work at NASA and his long friendship with Carl Sagan, with whom he helped popularize science through the television series Cosmos.

Now 83, Lee speaks with a boyish enthusiasm and a declamatory style as he advances a set of theories: there could be life on other planets or earlier high-functioning civilizations that died out, and humanity risks ruining Earth’s environment; he presents these ideas cautiously, saying no good scientist or futurist claims something is impossible.

The review presents the film as a close look at Lee’s persuasive case and notes that the documentary is an NYT Critic’s Pick.

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