A charming celebration of the amateur. Jim Desforges (Nicolas Giraud) is an aeronautical engineer who dreams of launching the first amateur manned space flight. Like BRIAN AND CHARLES or A BUNCH OF AMATEURS, there’s a charm in seeing the film’s amateur rocket scientists building a rocket out of scraps in a farmhouse. There’s an accompanying sense of power and liberation too: why should space travel be the province solely of nation states or major corporations? Why couldn’t we open source space travel and open up the Earth’s gravitational prison for anyone and everyone with the will to escape it? A gentle film with a climax that makes the journey worthwhile.
Full review available on TAKE ONE: https://takeonecinema.net/2023/the-astronaut/