Review of Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022) by Bertobellamy — 05 Apr 2022

Just like Alfonso Cuarón, Pedro Almodóvar, Paolo Sorrentino, or Kenneth Branagh — the latter not that brilliantly as the others — Richard Linklater looks into his past — one obsessed with the future in every way — to conceive a nostalgia-heavy film about the yearning hidden — or lack of it — in everyday life. I loved the first part, where Stanley, our main character, spends his time with his numerous family and his schoolmates, and just being an ordinary middle-class boy in the suburbs. Almost all of the film is narrated — yes, that is Jack Black speaking —, but it never gets annoying; instead, the commentary is very insightful and explains some things we foreigners or younger people didn't live. All those scenes about old movies and tv series are going to amaze everyone obsessed with pop culture.

The second part loses some of its appeal, making you enter into a dream world we've seen so many times. But as the recent 'Summer of Soul' documentary, the film focuses on why some people and other minorities couldn't care less about the Moon landing, and that's something worth exploring.

'Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood' is a fun ride with little to tell about space travel — and, obviously, it was not the point —, but a lot about living in somewhat simpler times.