Never mistake nostalgia for envy. You can be wistful, somber, even let out a *sigh* and still readily admit your childhood sucked. But don’t shun it, embrace it. Maybe even fictionalize a bit of it, like in today’s film. Whether he loved his childhood or not, it seems pretty clear in Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood that writer/director Richard Linklater thoroughly enjoyed his personal vacation to pre-pubescent times. And, honestly? It’s very difficult not to enjoy his animated memory catalog.
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood combines an adorable simplicity juxtaposed with a fantastical reality. Stanley (voice of Milo Coy) is a kid living in 1960s Houston. I generally find Houston a flat slice of ennui with strip malls forever and ever and ever. But darnit if Richard LInklater didn’t make me experience the joy of living in this particular time and space. Milo seems like a normal kid — playing kickball, getting in trouble, and riding a bicycle with a baseball card making a constant “thwappita thwappita thwappita” sound as is rattles against the spokes.
Ah, but Milo isn’t just an ordinary kid; he’s advanced and NASA has secretly pegged him to test pilot a lunar module not built to adult scale. [This part is, of course, pure fantasy, but it has the ability of paralleling the key events from what was –arguably- the greatest achievement in American history, if not human history itself.] You see, Milo’s dad works at NASA as some sort of procurement/shipping officer. Milo isn’t alone in having a NASA parent; in this suburb, most of the dads work at NASA. For them, putting a man on the moon and bringing him back safely isn’t just about nationalism or science or human achievement, it’s personal. These are the folks who are going to do the work to make this dream a reality.
There isn’t a whole lot to this film. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood really is much more about “how we lived” than any specific plot; the subplot about Astronaut Milo exists simply to personalize the moonwalk experience … cuz, ya know, Michael Jackson died wat back in 2009. That said; it’s all darn effective. I don’t often use the word “envious,” and yet there is a specific desire to get caught up in the world of Houston in the summer 
of 1969. I wanted to visit Astroworld and cheer for the silly bull cartoon display in the Astrodome and mostly I wanted to be proud of being part of the effort to put a man on the moon.
Perhaps the best feature of film as an art form is the ability to transport us away to a different time and place. Apollo 10½ is the epitome of such a film. This is how we lived, breathed, thought, worked, played, and behaved. I don’t expect this film to resonate with all generations, but it doesn’t have to. Apollo 10½ is like a time capsule, somehow both magnificently captured and exaggerated through the animated overlay technique Richard Linklater prefers. I dunno that I’d recommend this film to anybody not my age … but I sure would to all my peers.
I’ve sadly underrated Richard Linklater … When I picture him, I picture some miserable performances in his first big film, Slacker, and a completely tired an unnecessary remake of the Bad News Bears. But he’s also the man who made the quietly romantic Before Sunrise trilogy, the 12-year tour-de-force Boyhood, and one of my favorite thought pieces in all moviedom, Waking Life. And I guarantee you can find Linklater fans who wouldn’t put any of the films I mentioned among his top three.
Once having the grace of Camelot
Houston was where all science was wrought
And while it’s not gory
There’s compensating story
When life is one otherworldly Astro-plot
Rated PG-13, 97 Minutes
Director: Richard Linklater
Writer: Richard Linklater
Genre: Trying to remember stuff
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Young Boomers/Old Generation X
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Horrified Millennials
