The American Astronaut

With a stylistic tip o' the space helmet to David Lynch's ERASERHEAD, this debut feature by musician-animator-filmmaker Cory McAbee is a retro-futuristic sci-fi musical oozing the same black-and-white oil and axle grease, albeit with tuneful tongue-in-cheekiness. Cowboyish Samuel Curtis (McAbee), the titular spaceman, plies space in what looks like a giant hot-water heater; the interior captain's cabin resembles an old Bowery hotel room, with chintzy wallpaper and bare light bulbs. Curtis is transporting a cat to the asteroid Ceres for Eddie (Bill Buell), owner of the Crossroads Bar, a saloon where grizzled roughnecks pass the time competing in comradely dance contes...