Synopsis
The artist Tom Sachs and his team of bricoleurs build a handmade space program and send two female astronauts to Mars
A Space Program
2015 Directed by Van Neistat
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"Permission to press play." "Permission granted."
Has a very funny, deadpan sensibility that is like music to my soul, and pulls off the simultaneous trick of documenting a cool art installation depicting a homemade mission to Mars.
Possible advertising tagline: "You'll laugh at a cartoon drawing of an astronaut hanging herself."
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A documentation of an intricate, homemade and rather silly Mars mission simulation becomes desperately funny thanks to the project's perverse details such as: Irish whiskey and Adderol consumption throughout, breakout Eames-style modules that explain plywood, epoxy and the circular saw, the use of an Atari game to simulate the landing (this is less arch and more exciting than it sounds), the use of several perfect music choices (Tangerine Dream's Rubycon and James Brown's Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved are employed to great effect) and the inclusion of surreal details like a Japanese tea ceremony on board the lander and a romantic candlelight dinner aboard ship for the two (female astronauts). It's a hysterically funny inventive thing and I loved every second of it.
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Scat Gun!
Kinda like a concert film and a video program for an art exhibit, and utterly charming in a way that maybe Michel Gondry once was (hard to remember now, it's been so long)? Crazy credits: "All attempts to grow narcotics failed."
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i have a lot of problems with this
this was a “cute” way to demonstrate misogyny i guess
& misunderstanding of japanese culture, like why is there a pentagram? & why isnt the asian woman credited as part of the cast on letterboxd?
tom sachs ill fight u in a parking lot
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Cute.
It took me a while to break through this movie's hyper arch and twee exterior. Once I did, I enjoyed the more absurd tangents like opium harvesting and Yoda Pez tea ceremonies. But A Space Programseems more concerned with documenting the various clever ways to recreate Mission to Mars using plywood, steel, and Atari games. Like an undergrad film school student talking at you about their love of low budget stage remakes of Hollywood blockbusters, this movie kind of exhausted me. At least I got a few yuks out of it!
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A well known artist pulled a Be Kind Rewind and made a DIY Interstellar. It's kinda funny, kinda charming, but mostly just confounding and, well, silly.
Everything you wanted to know about plywood but were afraid to ask.
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Boy do I adore Tom Sachs's analog aesthetic! Add to that Van Neistat's gripping abyssal/mechanical/comical filmography which makes you want to see more than what is. And you have one of the most creative art exhibitions of all.
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definitely tone deaf in a lot of ways upon viewing in 2019 (better and more intentional writing for one.. and with that some more tasteful or considerate cues for its allusions or non-knowing utilization of eco-feminist theory), but as a film representation of a 2012 "elaborate conceptual performance art piece" i think it gets a lot of its intention across clearly. Creating as close to an authentic experience of space travel utilizing common materials as possible, the exhaustion and dedication of the crew shines and raises the suspension of disbelief to some extremely high-highs. An ode to the feats that humans have achieved in the past and taking itself so seriously that it reflects the earnestness of childlike recreation and…
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Hm... Some mixed feelings on this one. I'm unfamiliar with Tom Sachs, so I'm not sure how this came onto my radar. It essentially follows his Mars mission simulation installation.
On a technical level, both the film and installation are very strong. A DIY space mission made out of plywood and poly mailers is very much up my alley, and the commentary provided by the film matches (and even adds to) the playful nature in a way that really works.
However...... there are quite a bit of vaguely (and not so vaguely) misogynistic moments that just made me go 🤨. One of the themes Sachs seems to be exploring in his piece is female inequity, and like so many male artists who attempt to do the same, it ends up coming across more offensive than compassionate.
Looking up Sachs after watching this, and it appears he is pretty involved in the NFT space these days. So lol
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Checked this out after enjoying Neistat’s Spirited Man series on YouTube. This was such an interesting and captivating way to capture an art installation. Neistat has an eye for practical effects and an acute understanding of the engineering, using the camera as a cog in this well oiled machine.