A film that did not do very well on its theatrical release back in February, the sweet, good-natured and yet slightly off-kilter (but GOOD off-kilter, you see) The Astronaut Farmer was just released to DVD on Tuesday.
It tells the story of Charles Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton), Ex-Nasa, who wants nothing more than to build a rocket and shoot it into space. He has a few hurdles, however: he's building the rocket all by himself, on his own coin, with only his family's help (who will run mission control? Why, his own son of course). The government steps in when Farmer wants to purchase some industry-level rocket fuel.
There's an unexpected level of love by Farmer's family. His wife is certainly concerned about the goings-on of her husband but is overall supportive of Farmer's plight. It's the basic law of marriage. As well, his kids are nothing but excited and want to see his dad in space. And they better be, because this guy is damned determined.
Deep down, that's the core of the story, to love and support your family no matter how insane the quest is. Another telling aspect of the film is knowing what you want to do and how to attain it, rather than let someone else get you down. "What do you want to do when you grow up?" asks Farmer to a student. "I don't know," the kid responds. "Well, you better figure know what you're going to do before someone knows it for you."
The images, lensed by cinematographer M. David Mullen and directed by the brothers Mark and Michael Polish, are just whacked out and cool enough to fall in love with them. One of the film's opening images has Farmer riding across the countryside, on a horse, wearing his spacesuit. Later, there's a beautifully framed shot of Farmer amongst a group of local dignataries in court...but wait, there's no "court" in this small town, so they have to hold it in the school gymnasium. A kid then walks in to play basketball and is stunned at the meeting that is going on.
The Astronaut Farmer has just a slight weird edge in this improbable story, and the reason it works is because the characters are so firmly drawn and fleshed out, and the filmmakers have backed them up with a movie that makes us care about it. They believe it, and so do we.
Jason
efilmcritic.com
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