The American Astronaut (2001)

Touches You

Simply A Masterpiece

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

"Eraserhead" meets "Dark Star" meets Jarmusch meets alternative rock. And that doesn't even begin to describe this utterly original little flick. The soundtrack is entertaining, weird. How do I even label it? "Happy psychedelic rock"? I have no clue what it is, but that's never a bad thing when it comes to music. I wasn't too crazy about the vocals, but the rest is well above average.AA (and the initials do have fitting implications), is the most bizarre, nonsensical movie I'd seen in many years. It is a movie without a point, without a message, without logic, without a real beginning, and with an ending that might as well have been in the middle, as far as I'm concerned. In other words, very very refreshing. An inter-planetary road movie? And that's one of its more normal aspects.No left-wing baloney, no mindless/boring tackling of "social issues", no asinine preaching, or a pathetic anti-war message right out of Gandhi's left hip. In fact, this is the most purely apolitical movie that one can make, not a trace of Hollywood baloney in it. It is obvious that McAbee intended to make a movie that went totally against the grain, and wanted it to be experienced rather than intellectualized over.AA lacks logic, so don't even bother. Curtis fails to notice his "nemesis" in the bar. The evil professor kills everyone with great ease, seems to be the only armed person in the Solar System. Etc. In fact, I get the sense that McAbee is even proud of his movie's non-logic, this being best exemplified in Curtis's comical explanation of why the professor kills people whom he has no reason to kill, while refusing to kill those whom he has a reason to kill. It's buffoonish anti-logic par excellance. It reminded me of Python at their best.You will never find a sci-fi film with this type of visual slant. Spaceships look like run-down log-cabins, the interiors look like they hadn't been lived in for decades, and if they have then only by serial killers or winos.At the start I was thrown back a bit by the very deliberate "weird for the sake of it" attitude that relentlessly pervades from start to finish, because some of those films can be embarrassingly awful. So it does take a little while to get into the groove of AA. It does grown on you, though. Just as George Lucas yelled "faster, faster!" at his actors during the making of "Star Wars", I could easily imagine McAbee shouting "weirder, weirder!" at his actors during the shooting.I've rarely seen a movie this well acted and cast. Nowadays that's a rarity. But then again, AA is already 10 years old, belongs to the turn of the millennium era when the last droplets of quality dripped from America's dying indie scene. That scene is pretty much dead now. It's all about making left-wing political commercials that will win awards now.The only real flaw, however, is the "villain", the dull middle-aged geezer who kills everyone in sight. I neither found this actor nor the character he played all that interesting, nor funny.It's nice to see that there are still filmmakers out there who get the urge to do something completely new, instead of dishing out the same old useless crap, over and over again.But then again, this film is ten years old, as I said. Originality and lack of pretentiousness almost seem to have been banned in American film recently.

... simply the worst film I can think of at the moment.Comparisons to David Lynch's early work are unfair blemishes on his reputation. Surely the only ways in which this film resembles 'Eraserhead' are that it's low-budget and shot in B&W.There is no content or depth in this film, it is just a long set of scenes loosely strung together, held together by one running joke. What is that joke? Others have commented on it here -- professor Hess's birthday.There is nothing else. Period.Note that the lack of special effects isn't an issue. Tarkovsky's 'Solaris' and Godard's 'Alphaville' both satisfactorily represented space travel with limited technology, as does 'The American Astronaut'. The problem is that there's nothing for the space travel scenes to bind together -- the film is empty.It was difficult to believe that the film was *only* an hour and a half long. It felt like an eternity. There was a constant trickle of audience members leaving all through the session. Well, that was at MIFF, maybe the viewers were a little more discerning than the usual crowd. I stayed because I felt that there must be at least an attempt at redemption at the end. Sadly, no. Just a continuation of that joke.Maybe I'm just spoiled by the likes of Bela Tarr, Wim Wenders, Mike Figgis, Jim Jarmusch, Terrence Malick and other mind-alteringly talented directors.Then again, maybe there's a simpler answer -- that this film really is devoid of all worth.

Cory McAbee plays Samuel Curtis an astronaut on a mission. His mission is to take a cat to a bar on an asteroid to trade it for the clone of a woman and then to take the clone to Jupiter and trade it for the boy who once saw a woman's breast, and then take him.... Ah, don't worry about the rest. It doesn't matter, because in this movie, as is usually the case in life itself, the destination isn't as important as the journey.This ingenious black and white musical gem restored my waning faith in independent film. Over the years, independent film, of the Sundance variety, has become too pious, too bland, too self-important and too formulaic. (How many times can you watch a group of quirky misfits and loners form themselves into an impromptu family? Okay, okay, there's an element of that here too, but the setting and the execution make it fresh and diverting.) Writer/Director McAbee populates the film with unique and interesting characters, and he doesn't care if they are really relevant to the resolution of the story. Take, for example, Tom Aldredge, who tells the "Hertz DoNut" joke. It doesn't go anywhere -- literally -- not even all the way to the punchline, but it is hilarious. The film careens from one amusing episode after another. From the "Hey Boy" showdown in the mens room, to everything Lee Vinsky has to say, to the Woman With The Vagina Made of Glass. Not everything works completely, but I found myself either laughing, or with a goofy smile on my face throughout.I can't help but think that had this film been released in a more adventuresome cinematic time like the mid-80s, this film would have been a massive cult hit and McAbee would be hailed as the next David Lynch or Jim Jarmusch. I had the good fortune to see this film at a screening in DC that featured a Q&A with the director after-wards. He seemed to take the film's -- how can I put this discreetly -- lack of success in stride. I didn't. It's a shame to see such an original and entertaining film limp out onto the market with so little exposure. I hope this film finds it's market. It's too cool to dwell in obscurity.You owe it to yourself to see it.

I saw the film at the Toronto Film Festival in 2001 and loved it. Just rented the DVD and it's a treat. Not only did I enjoy the film even more than the first viewing, but I immediately rewatched it via the Director's Commentary. The commentary makes you love the film exponentially more if only because it's done in a unique way: Cory McAbee narrates at a live screening, taking questions from the audience. McAbee is uniquely eloquent in his commentary. I've heard many commentaries that simply leave me numb, praying for narcolepsy to strike. Instead, the heart and mind of a true Renaissance man were revealed, imbuing the film (and the music) with new life (just when you thought you couldn't love a film more). There are some perfect cinematic scenes in this film. I watch literally hundreds of films a year and it's rare that I'm surprised by some narrative trope but to my joy, Hey Boy! is there to give me new faith in cinema. However impressed I was with Cory McAbee before, now I'm awestruck. And it's always a treat to hear Brian Eno's name a few times in a commentary. Wow. Congratulations.