The American Astronaut

The American Astronaut, directed by Cory McAbee in 2001, is an indie black-and-white movie that can only be defined as a uniquely satisfying blend of science fiction, rock n roll musical, and post-western genre – all camped up. It takes you through an adventurous journey across the solar system filled with unusual happenings and quirky characters, all wrapped in a shoestring budget 35mm feature film. Yet, what it lacks in resources it makes up for with raw imagination and a cosmic dose of rock music.

The hero of this delightful tale is Samuel Curtis, brilliantly portrayed by Cory McAbee, who not only directed the film but also wrote it. He's essentially a space trucker, a bare-bones classic western type, wandering the stars in his rusty spaceship rather than a horse, leading us through a series of inter-stellar trades. A blue-collar astronaut, if you will, traipsing around from planet to planet guided only by his wily wits and courage.

In a universe where women are scarce, Curtis' trade involves a cat-and-mouse chase across the stars to deliver the sole young female on an all-male mining planet and capture the prized "Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breast." Rocco Sisto plays the character Professor Hess, a psychopathic villain that provides a perfect comic counter-point to the stolid Curtis.

The whole journey is punctuated with various musical interludes performed by the cult band The Billy Nayer Show, adding to the film's uniqueness. Cleverly woven into the narrative, the music, which is strangely mesmerizing, often reveals the mindset, history or fate of the different characters. The music adds layers to the story and is presented in the form of unorthodox rockabilly tunes, forming an integral part of the plot, and at the same time, enhancing the film's entertainment quotient.

It's set in a time where outer space is colonized with its own set of taverns filled with space cowboys and dance contests exist on barren asteroids. The director's visual imagination shines through every set within this hypnotic space western. He has created an utterly fantastical, eccentric world out of the visually sparse settings. Despite the budget constraints, the movie's art direction is imaginative yet modest, filled with beautifully shot lunar landscapes, and orbital shots that capture the eerie solitude of the star-strewn void.

A distinctive strain of humour permeates the film – bizarre to the point of surreal, but grounded in human nature. The characters themselves are idiosyncratic, each with their own peculiarities, whether it's a chatty demigod living in an abandoned bathroom or a dancing asteroid miner. The dialogue is archaic yet witty, creating instantaneous laughter and reinforcing the charming absurdity of the film.

Directed in a raw, deliberately retro style, The American Astronaut embodies a space-age future from a bygone era. Its narrative structure and style are reminiscent of classic American westerns and vintage noir cinema but melded with the whimsy and randomness of a midnight cult film. Filled with grungy, noir-ish sets and an old-fashioned aesthetic, the film offers a bold reimagining of space that breaks from the polished look of many other sci-fi films.

Overall, The American Astronaut is a combination of lo-fi aesthetics, a wacky plotline, and eccentric humour sprinkled generously throughout the movie. The grainy, black-and-white depiction of outer space together with the haunting and eclectic rock-n-roll soundtrack make The American Astronaut an unforgettable cinematic journey. It's an indie gem - a surreal, absurdist musical fantasy that is oddly and incredibly peculiar in all the right ways. It may be a bit too out-there for some tastes, but for those who appreciate the quirky, this film is extraordinarily memorable and a testament to the power of individual creativity.