The American Astronaut

Cory McAbee
2001

I was a little unimpressed with the musical aspects of Cory McAbee's out-there DIY space adventure, but am ultimately enthusiastic about the rough black and white cinematography (16mm I would wager), and it's minimalist creation of a science fiction universe with limited means. Like the frequent emphasis on musical numbers, some of the film's eccentricities and quirks are a little rich: a young man on an all male mining town who is revered for having seen a woman's breast feels a bit too much like a failed Guy Maddin flight of fancy. However, the strange shadowing of our hero by the murderous professor Hess (always a step behind) is more interesting, as his destructive raygun renders victims to neat little ash piles. The psychosis of this malevolent doppelganger adds a dark, ultimately madcap angle to this trek across the cosmos. It's a flawed movie for sure, but that's not unexpected for a small auteurist picture with grand vision and limited means. Yet this "littleness" is also from where it derives it's merit.