American Astronaut
By Matthew Palmer
The film American Astronaut has built its online promotion
around
being mysterious, much like its off-beat outer space adventure theme.
Its relation to "transmedia storytelling" is introducing
viewers to the
film with their Spartan web site. The press section of the site
includes the endorsement statements for the 2001 Sundance Film Festival,
in which the film competed. They mention the film's unique artistic
vision and the imagination of its writer and director, Cory McAbee,
which prompted me to look further.
The film's trailer is an enticing and cryptic montage of clips, with
a
haunting musical theme. Each shot could easy be a beautiful still
photo. McAbee and his crew has clearly spent a great deal of effort
in
dealing with every detail of the film. The faces of the amateur actors
seem perfectly suited to play characters as eccentric and interesting
as
they are described in the synopsis (though the trailer has no dialog).
The high-contrast lighting and heavy shadows add to the film's artistic
and heavy feel.
Basically, that is all the information given on the American Astronaut
site (I even had to get the plot synopsis from elsewhere). It was
enough, though, to hook me. Independent films frequently offer not
only
a refreshing change from normal Hollywood fare, but also new artistic
visions. This site raised many questions about the film and left me
confused enough to want to find the answers. Hopefully, American
Astronaut will be playing in a local theater soon.