The American Astronaut

TIFF [2001]

Full size poster

(USA, 2001, 90 minutes)
Written and directed by Cory McAbee
Music: The Billy Nayer Show
Cast: Cory McAbee, Rocco Sisto, Gregory Russell Cook, Annie Golden, James Ransone

Movie Review

Pity the poor filmmaker who aspires to usurp "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" from its 25 year reign as King (Queen?) of the midnight musical. Many independents have tried, most have failed: a moment of silence, if you're so inclined, for the official RHPS followup "Shock Treatment"? How about last year's "Psycho Beach Party"? Remember "Six String Samurai"? "Cannibal: The Musical" (actually, I like this one)? Whatever each film's individual merits (they're cult films, after all, so they probably all have a loyal Internet worship shrine, somewhere) only "Little Shop Of Horrors" has come close to nearing "RHPS"s longevity, and that one, surprisingly, was produced within the studio system, compromised ending and all.

The creators of "The American Astronaut" might resent the "Rocky Horror" comparison, but let's face it: if you're making a movie about a singing space cowboy who trades a cloned female to workers on Jupiter for a princely young stud to be transported to the all-female planet of Venus, you're not trying to compete with Kieslowski's "The Decalogue".

Maybe it was because I didn't see it with its intended Midnight Madness audience, maybe it was the mid afternoon screening time, maybe it was because I was still shaken by Tuesday's tragedy in the U.S., but for me, "The American Astronaut" just sat there on the screen, creaking along from one arch moment to the next, enlivened by the odd cheap special effect and/or cheeky song. As anyone who's wasted too much money on Troma pick-ups knows, it's not enough to have a funny title or wacky concept -- you still have to make a movie, and that means interesting visuals, a reasonable pace, a payoff to the story, and in the case of a musical comedy, some memorable tunes and good-honest laughs for cryin' out loud. A character name like "The Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breast " elicits a chuckle the first time you hear it, but the fifth? Or what's the point in having a ditty called "The Girl With The Vagina Made Of Glass" if cowboy Sam Curtis merely walks across the yard, lip-synching a few glib lyrics while the extras just sit there? "The American Astronaut" is what Rolling Stone's "Hot Issue" termed "medium funny".

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Visually, "The American Astronaut" resembles a tenth-generation PAL-to-NTSC bootleg transfer of a faded workprint of an early Michael Almereyda monochromatic Pixelvision short. The FX shots are cleverly accomplished by moving storyboards, the few sets are sparse and as economical as Robot Monster's bubble machine, but adequately convincing as a frontier saloon and Buck Rogers-styled spaceship cockpit. I'd forgive the film's drab and often downright unsightly images if they seemed to be a parody of anything specific. What, exactly, is being spoofed here? Old Tom Mix two-reelers? "Just Imagine"s dated futurism? 1920s German Expressionism? The cast isn't bad, really, the actors just aren't given anything particularly amusing to do or say. And to say that act three's ending is too abrupt is to assume that the screenplay (incredibly, developed at the Sundance Institute!) had any sort of structure to begin with.

A Programmer stated in the intro that writer/director Cory McAbee (who also fronts the band responsible for the song score) regarded his film as living record, and hoped that people would revisit it as they would a favorite album. But if the songs aren't any good, why would they bother? I'll give the film a bare pass for effort and enthusiasm, but next time, I hope McAbee and company bring in a ghost writer. Or sell "The American Astronaut" to the stage, where, in 20 years time, someone might give the promising concept the execution it deserves.

- Robert L

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