Pedestrian but charming and disarmingly emotional, Richard Dreyfuss fuels writer director Shelagh McLeod’s feature film debut, ASTRONAUT, a poignant and heartwarming family drama about a lonely widower who lies about his age to enter a lottery for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to travel to outer space.
Dreyfus plays Angus Stewart, a civil engineer who applied for astronaut training eons ago but was rejected. A keen astronomer, he still yearns to fulfill his dream.
Dispatched to a retirement home which is depicted as little more than God’s waiting room, the physically infirm Angus still retains his marbles and twigs that the tarmac to be used in the launch of the commercial flight into space is inferior and prone to disaster.
This brings him into confrontation with the billionaire entrepreneur who is shelling out the sheckles for the space shot.
ASTRONAUT’s gravitational pull is the place of geriatrics on First World Planet Earth. Put out to pasture, their expertise is wasted, and this narrative serves to stave the idea that older people have passed their used by dates.
Comparison to Cocoon and Space Cowboys is inevitable, but ASTRONAUT has nowhere near the budget of those films, relying on the star power of Dreyfuss to sustain its sentimental trajectory, a star power well harnessed by McLeod.
Dreyfuss is given solid support from Krista Bridges as his daughter, Lyriq Bent as his son in law and Colm Feore as the tycoon technocrat.
It’s not rocket science, but ASTRONAUT is a respectable little film that champions respect for elders and the idea that small steps by men can generate leaps for all mankind.
ASTRONAUT will be available to rent or buy from April 8 on Apple TV, Fetch TV, Foxtel Store, Google Play and YouTube. PG
