The American Astronaut
A hard-boiled space trader navigates a bizarre solar-system economy of clones, miners, pirates, and assassins in a handmade science-fiction musical.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- surreal
- deadpan
- gritty
- cult movie night
- late night viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard it as a visually striking and musically inventive cult science-fiction comedy whose unconventional world-building outweighs its rough edges.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Samuel Curtis travels among asteroid saloons, mining planets, and hostile planetary societies governed by trade.
The film places cloning devices and interplanetary travel alongside grease monkeys, primitive habitats, and a space station built by late-1800s silver miners.
The film is explicitly a science fiction musical, using musical numbers within its rugged interplanetary trading adventure.
Reviews specifically emphasize beautiful black-and-white imagery and high contrast accentuating the grittiness of the planetary scenery.
Films like The American Astronaut, and why
Dark Star
shares a surreal science fiction premise, eccentric world-building, deadpan humor, and a handmade cult-film sensibility
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
shares a retro-futurist space setting, stylized musical elements, theatrical performances, and offbeat comedy
Six-String Samurai
shares space-western iconography, eccentric characters, heightened production design, and comic genre deconstruction
Repo Man
shares a low-budget science fiction aesthetic, absurdist humor, strange extraterrestrial societies, and unconventional storytelling
Movie Details
- Director
- Cory McAbee
- Release Date
- 2001-09-21
- Runtime
- 92 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (62)
Cast
- Cory McAbee
- Joshua Taylor
- Greg Russell Cook
- Rocco Sisto
- James Ransone
- Annie Golden
- Tom Aldredge
- Bill Buell
- Peter McRobbie
- Joseph McKenna
Common questions
- What is The American Astronaut about?
- A hard-boiled space trader navigates a bizarre solar-system economy of clones, miners, pirates, and assassins in a handmade science-fiction musical.
- What is The American Astronaut like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The American Astronaut as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The American Astronaut violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The American Astronaut as moderate.
- What did critics think of The American Astronaut?
- Critics broadly regard it as a visually striking and musically inventive cult science-fiction comedy whose unconventional world-building outweighs its rough edges.
- Which films are like The American Astronaut?
- Films with a similar feel include Dark Star, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Six-String Samurai, and Repo Man.
- How long is The American Astronaut?
- The American Astronaut runs 92 minutes.
