The American Astronaut is a sci-fi musical set in a redneck retro-futuristic space age, had the American frontier continued off the planet. The scenery is of rustique planetary habitats and travel through interplanetary space in an equally rugged vessel. Thematically it is an exposition on families and the inter-family relational space, all of which might be considered unconventional. Visually it is absolutely stunning in beautiful black and white with high contrast that accentuate the grittiness. The soundtrack is excellent and the musical numbers work well too. It is enthralling, it is dramatic, it is funny and it is now on among my favorite films. tl;dr 1975 in Warsaw; Young Homer writes a script for his step-brother David Lynch while listening to banned rockabilly albums. There is a worn poster of Gagarin on the wall and a postcard from France from his step-dad, the lorry driver that defected and abandoned them. His mom is singing in the kitchen.

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