Adapted from Shelby Van Pelt’s 2022 best-selling novel of the same name, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” is a heartwarming drama that’s not made for the more cynically minded. It’s an earnest and empathetic tearjerker, yet one with enough restraint to make its handful of cliches easier to digest. Most importantly, it never loses sight of the humanity at the core of its story. And that’s what makes the film resonate.

Director Olivia Newman, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Whittington, gives ample time to the book’s central themes of tragedy, grief, aging, isolation, etc. And she does so through the unconventional pairing of 79-year-old Sally Field and 33-year-old Lewis Pullman. Both give emotionally rich and textured performances in bringing to life two broken people who find solace in each other and one deeply empathetic Pacific octopus.

“Remarkably Bright Creatures” gives an especially touching role to Sally Field. She plays Tova Sullivan, a withdrawn widow working as the overnight cleaning lady at an aquarium in the small fictional town of Sowell Bay, Washington. Tova is still struggling from the deaths of her beloved son Eric six years earlier, and more recently her husband Will. Rather than lean on the local townsfolk who clearly care for her, Tova only shares her heart with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus voiced by Alfred Molina who serves as the film’s wise and witty narrator.

The similarities between Tova and Marcellus are many. Both are elderly. Both can be a little cantankerous. Both are lonely. And both face their own sense of captivity, with Marcellus longing to be out of his tank and back in the ocean before he dies, and Tova facing a big decision on whether to sell her family home and move into a senior care facility. The two form a sad yet heartwarming bond that takes an unexpected turn after another person enters both of their worlds.

Cameron (Lewis Pullman) is passing through Sowell Bay when his beat-up van, which also serves as his home, breaks down in the middle of town. With no money to pay for the repairs, Cameron gets a part-time job at the aquarium filling in for Tova after she takes a fall. But ever the perfectionist, Tova immediately takes issue with Cameron’s methods. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things,” she preaches with the conviction of an evangelist.

At first the two seem utterly incompatible. But over time a connection is formed between them as Tova sees reminders of her son in Cameron. But we learn there is more to Cameron than just some drifter passing through. We discover he has his own painful past and has come to the area for a very specific reason. But his fateful meeting with Tova opens the door to lives both of them had given up on. But carrying so much pain through that door proves difficult.

While Tova and Cameron are terrific centerpieces, Newman surrounds them with a host of entertaining supporting characters. Colm Meaney plays a kindly general store owner Ethan who has eyes for Tova. Joan Chen, Kathy Baker, and Beth Grant are a lot of fun playing members of Tova’s knitting group. Sofia Black-D’Elia’s plays Avery, a paddle board shop owner who instantly catches Cameron’s attention. And of course there’s Alfred Molina, whose soothingly voiced observations range from keenly perceptive to bitingly funny.

“Remarkably Bright Creatures” is almost certain to find resistance from those with an aversion to warm and tender dramas. But for everyone else, it’s a film that will pull at your heartstrings but with an emotional honesty that is hard to deny. Yes, it tries to weave together a few too many story threads and the way things play out are…convenient. Yet Newman delivers a film adaptation that’s full of charm, warmth, and hope. And it features a delightful Sally Field performance that will bring a tear to your eye and put a smile on your face.