Flick Pick

The cult surrounding Cory McAbee's surreal romp The American Astronaut just grows and grows -- enthralled, you can't help thinking, as much by the film's inaccessibility (released in 2001, it's still not out on video or DVD) as by the depth of its weirdness. So. Who wouldn't want to revisit a sci-fi Western musical, made in black and white for the price of an average lunch, about a time traveler on a bizarre mission to Venus? McAbee, an undefinable hipster/artist with roots in meta-folk rock (he's frontman for the widely admired Billy Nayer Show), experimental writing and filmmaking, got Astronaut made through the Sundance writers' lab. But it has more to do with hallucination than actual typing. The Village Voice's Michael Atkinson nailed Astronaut'sprevalent tone when he called it "a lovely little wedge of garage-band silliness" that feels "as if it sprang unedited from McAbee's honky-tonk daydreams.... It's the kind of arch, serenely ridiculous thrift-store indie that postpunk downtowners used to make before the Park City splash of the late '80s, when whimsy became product."

Related Content

• Reader: In Darkness reminds us that we can never forget
  March 15, 2012
• Glenwood Springs ups its game to become "Most Fun Town in America"
  August 9, 2011
• Despite off-screen drama, the Tribe Called Quest documentary is phenomenal
  July 28, 2011
• BJ's Port revival dries up
  January 21, 2010
• Skiers may scoff, but snowboarders are finally being accepted by the slopes' old guard
  November 10, 2011

More About

• Cory McAbee
• Michael Atkinson
• University of Colorado System
• Space Technology
• Science and Technology

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

The American Astronaut screens Monday, February 9, as part of the University of Colorado's International Film Series. Showings are at 7 and 9 p.m. in Muenzinger Auditorium, just west of Folsom Stadium on the Boulder campus. For information, call 303-492-1531 or log on to www.internationalfilmseries.com. -- Bill Gallo