Courtesy Minnow Mountain
In our world, every dude filmmaker gets his suburban-childhood-on-film moment, so why not add Richard Linklater (Boyhood) to the pile? But there’s good news: This rotoscoped nostalgia dump isn’t the act of self-aggrandizement you’d expect. Instead, young Stanley’s (Linklater’s stand-in, portrayed by Milo Coy and Jack Black as an older narrator) childhood recollections are told in montage fashion with the Apollo 11 moon landing anchoring the history and ironically grounding an intense dreamed-up “reality” wherein he is sought out by NASA to go the moon. So secret is this faux mission that his family can’t ever know about his incredible contributions to the space race. Alack, alas.
There are few things more sigh-worthy than a filmmaker emboldened enough to believe his own life warrants a cinematic autobiography. But Linklater doesn’t take us for fools. He trudges forward, aware that white-kid bildungsroman in the Houston suburbs is actually pretty bland. Rather than portray his own artistic promises, the era itself becomes the main driver. The ‘60s, of course, felt very alive, and Linklater explores how even the most average Americans experienced the counter-culture and NASA-spurred patriotism. The society of Linklater’s youth is obsessed with what’s to come and, much like the never-ending sparkly suburban developments, its members can’t recall a world before its societal and cultural trappings. In many ways, however, widespread optimism is shaded in pessimism here. But it hardly matters for Stanley: Now is forever.
Stanley’s fantasy therefore examines how then-new and promising ventures were part of a larger cultural gestalt. Seeing a rocket launch? “Well, my neighbor’s dad’s father’s cousin works near the NASA headquarters and delivers their coffee, therefore I somehow influenced this technical achievement.” Linklater never strays into worship, yet does paint a compelling picture of brief optimism, the kind of which our country demonstrably couldn’t maintain.
He’s a fine filmmaker, but he’s downright astonishing when it comes to Texas tales and capturing the minutiae and absurdity of life there—a J. Frank Dobie for the screen. Where Apollo 10 ½ lacks in story, it brims with a Dazed and Confused-like energy. Don’t worry, though, because one doesn’t need to be a Texan to grasp what Linklater’s going for. That’s part of his skill. In our world, every dude filmmaker gets his suburban-childhood-on-film moment, so why not add Richard Linklater (Boyhood) to the pile? But there’s good news: This rotoscoped nostalgia dump isn’t the act of self-aggrandizement you’d expect. Instead, young Stanley’s (Linklater’s stand-in, portrayed by Milo Coy and Jack Black as an older narrator) childhood recollections are told in montage fashion with the Apollo 11 moon landing anchoring the history and ironically grounding an intense dreamed-up “reality” wherein he is sought out by NASA to go the moon. So secret is this faux mission that his family can’t ever know about his incredible contributions to the space race. Alack, alas.
There are few things more sigh-worthy than a filmmaker emboldened enough to believe his own life warrants a cinematic autobiography. But Linklater doesn’t take us for fools. He trudges forward, aware that white-kid bildungsroman in the Houston suburbs is actually pretty bland. Rather than portray his own artistic promises, the era itself becomes the main driver. The ‘60s, of course, felt very alive, and Linklater explores how even the most average Americans experienced the counter-culture and NASA-spurred patriotism. The society of Linklater’s youth is obsessed with what’s to come and, much like the never-ending sparkly suburban developments, its members can’t recall a world before its societal and cultural trappings. In many ways, however, widespread optimism is shaded in pessimism here. But it hardly matters for Stanley: Now is forever.
Stanley’s fantasy therefore examines how then-new and promising ventures were part of a larger cultural gestalt. Seeing a rocket launch? “Well, my neighbor’s dad’s father’s cousin works near the NASA headquarters and delivers their coffee, therefore I somehow influenced this technical achievement.” Linklater never strays into worship, yet does paint a compelling picture of brief optimism, the kind of which our country demonstrably couldn’t maintain.
He’s a fine filmmaker, but he’s downright astonishing when it comes to Texas tales and capturing the minutiae and absurdity of life there—a J. Frank Dobie for the screen. Where Apollo 10 ½ lacks in story, it brims with a Dazed and Confused-like energy. Don’t worry, though, because one doesn’t need to be a Texan to grasp what Linklater’s going for. That’s part of his skill.
7
+Funny and heartfelt
-Lacking narrative
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood
Directed by Linklater
With Coy, Black and Zachary Levi
Netflix, NR, 98 min.
