The American Astronaut

"The American Astronaut" is the purest of pure examples of how great independent cinema can be. This SciFi-comedy-musical is one of the most cinematically luscious films shot in B&W 35mm by any independent film to my knowledge. The characters are without parallel, especially the genius of Tom Aldredge who delivers one of THE BEST monologue jokes ever captured on film. Cory McAbee not only wrote it and directs it, but also stars in it and co-wrote all the music which is performed by his band The Billy Nayer Show (don't know them? shame shame) Everyone I've ever recommended this film to or who I have known to have seen it raves about this film... except for one guy I know, but his favorite film is "Hard Rain" with Christian Slater... not sure if that should count.

Space is a lonely town. There are some pretty deep concepts to this story that are cleverly interwoven into the comedy of the script. Also notable is how much like an elementary schoolyard the interactions and ethics of this film are. Brilliant, entertaining... pure genius.

... you'd have got something like The American Astronaut.

Writer/actor/director/musician Cory McAbee's ultra-low-budget indie The American Astronaut is something that almost defies description. Shot in black-and-white, it hearkens back to the science fiction of the 1900s and its description of the universe as consisting of a series of 'themed' worlds. Venus is inhabited solely by Southern Belles; Saturn by lonely miners; and there's a bar with an all-male dancing contest in the asteroid belt. Space cowboy Samuel Curtis wends his way through this dreamlike universe with a blase charm, like Han Solo if he'd suggested to Greedo that they don't fight, but instead go bass fishing. Pursued by a deranged Pee-Wee Herman-esque mad scientist (played by noted character actor and HBO regular Rocco Sisto), he has to take The Boy Who Once Saw A Woman's Breast and exchange him for a corpse, which he can then take back to Earth, along with the stinking hydraulic gimp that he picks up along the way.

If this all sounds confusing, that's because you're over-thinking it. McAbee's fourth movie and his full-length debut is a collection of oddball moments and weird incidents, told with a certain sweetness of tone. Early David Lynch is a good sign post, but then so are the Quay brothers. Yet neither has McAbee's well-intentioned sense of humor. There are no overt jokes, but somehow he catches that mood of security that pervades the oddest of dreams. No matter how bizarre, it never becomes terrifying. This is, of course, helped by the occasional song and dance number, with music provided by the director's day job in his band The Billy Nayer Show.

If McAbee has made any mistake, it's that this is almost too relentlessly and resiliently oddball. Conventional audiences will have no truck with this, and those looking for subversive cinema may find that it almost tries too hard to be off-kilter. However, while McAbee does feel like he's pushing his own personal envelope, it's undeniable that he is has unique and perverse cinematic vision. Most importantly, his vision allows him to make a true creative virtue of his low-to-zero budget. Primitive space cowboys who managed to launch their barn into the solar void use tin cans as oxygen filters: space travel is represented through flash cards: and bizarre alien cultures are summed up by raiding the prop cupboard of the local amateur dramatics society. In less talented hands, this would be abortive. Yet McAbee thinks around all the problems out of which so many other directors just buy themselves.

The American Astronaut is like a 60s sci-fi on acid. It's warped and doesn't make much sense. It doesn't have a strong plot and definitely isn't for everyone. But, I did find myself laughing at certain points and I enjoyed it.

There is a scene where the main character is on the toilet in the bathroom and two guys follow him in there. You're certain they're about to beat him up....until they plug in their record player and start singing to him. It's like West Side Story in another dimension. The Ceres jumping (their version of moon walking) in sync with the music makes for another great scene. This movie was born a cult classic.

A low budget B&W film. The look is modeled after old Sci-Fi films like Flash Gordon. Including drawings for the spaceship exterior with camera zooms and pans. The cinematography is more "film noir" and is interesting in parts and just contrasty in others.

The acting is very good in this campy storyline. There isn't a plot or character development worth mentioning the campy wierdness and design is what drives this film.

Overall it is an interesting venture with some good jokes and situations but is very quirky for the general public.

As for the ending all I can describe is that it does.

If you have an interest in film, this is an interesting venture. If you are looking for mainstream films, this ain't it.

'The American Astronaut' promises much more than it delivers, I'm sorry to say. It has all the hallmarks of a cult movie - comedy musical western with a rock score - but falls short of what it could have been.

Cory McAbee (director, writer, star), who doesn't come across as particularly interesting as himself - guesting at a screening of this recently - plays Curtis, the astronaut of the title who wins a dance contest on Ceres, gets given a job to do, and - well, it's downhill from there, really.

As Professor Heiss, Rocco Sisto comes across as very Ed Wood, moaning about everyone ignoring his birthday, reducing people in his wake to piles of sand. Greg Russell Cook is 'the boy who actually saw a woman's breasts', a bored cutie in a Greek God uniform; while Tom Aldredge is a bitter old man in the pub on Ceres who tells the long-winded, and rather silly 'hertz doughnut' joke.

The main premise of this messy film is to showcase the real-life band (made up from McAbee, the producer, and the Ceres house musicians) who wrote and perform the score. There's a lot of promise in the musical numbers - one performed in the men's room (now, that was funny); one performed in silhouette in a shed floating in space; one performed by 'the Boy' on stage; one performed by Professor Heiss after a murderous spree, one performed by fat dull Eddie the barman on Ceres, etc. etc.

The photography, when it isn't being 'look how low budget we are' (any of the shots with the space ship), is pretty good. The film appears in black and white and uses minimal sets and cheap costume to move its (limited) story along. But it could have been a lot more far-out and wacky. I came away feeling just a bit disappointed and felt that the film-makers themselves lost interest a fair way from the end. Pity.