"A bus can't fly without wings." - Studio note to writer/director Tom Schiller.

AFS screening with Tom Schiller in attendance!

Wow, what a swell guy! Too bad my own weird personal hangups keep me from gelling with his twee, romantic, humanistic worldview. I always see the worst in our species, I guess. So, a movie about a struggling artist finding fleeting romance on the moon in a classical Hollywood nostalgia throwback occasionally tests my haine de vivre.

But those color moonscape set designs, though! The beautiful songs! And the absurd lunar tourist sequence jabbing at crass American consumerism! The stew of pulp sci-fi, golden age Hollyweird, and '80s avant-comedy bursts and bubbles to life in a singular vision I can't help but love. You're a real peach, Schiller. Someone make this man a gofundme page so he can pop out a movie again!

This is a comedy with no jokes. It's funny out of sheer bewilderment. Welcome back to America, Letterboxd. Still trying to find yourself? Check this movie out. It's my favorite film of all time, and I promise you, there's nothing else quite like it.

A young man travels to a not-quite-real New York City to become an artist. A vision of true love leads him to a bus full of senior citizens on a trip to the moon.

Pure magic. Nothing Lasts Forever is exactly what I needed. It's a true hidden gem, a visionary movie with a great cast made by a talented director that somehow never reached the American public. This is the type of movie I want to watch every day, not because it's obscure but because it's perfect.

I added this to my watchlist because Evan Pincus called it his favorite film of all time, and I totally understand. It amazed me every step of the way.

This film is utterly wonderful and unique and you should totally go to Youtube and see it right now.

“You must study all forms of art, and cinema is one of the most important.”

Unquestionably one of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen, and I mean this is in the best sense. Utterly bizarre yet insanely ambitious filmmaking, clearly inspired by both 1930s-1940s cinema and classical B-movies. It’s a damn shame that MGM refused to release it, because Tom Schiller created something incredibly special here.

Pure movie magic. I really hope this gets the proper Blu-Ray release it absolutely deserves.

"Don't people from Earth just want to shop?"

I'm not sure what I love more: Schiller's deliriously scripted, sweetly cynical fever dream of a plot, or the world that he's created for it -- crafted from decades of celluloid and cultural detritus, mixing Fluxus with Forbidden Planet and Chopin with Potemkin.

There's nothing sadder than seeing a "Soundtrack now out on Warner Bros. Records" credit on a movie that never really came out.

I enjoyed this strange strange strange movie. It looks like a movie made by The Church of the Subgenius.

That said, the executive that greenlit this was almost certainly fired - and rightly so.

"This is a consumer moon you've landed on. Why do you think we gave you all those goddamn lunartinis up there?"

It's hard to imagine anyone at any level of this production ever thought it would get any sort of traditional release. It's the kind of movie that only makes sense as a hidden curiosity, waiting to reward those who make the effort to seek it out. Tom Schilling seems to understand this better than anyone, but hopefully there's still a feature-packed release at some point.

If you can, watch the version with the deleted Port Authority Art Test scene, a funny sequence that I think sets the right tone early on.

To achieve your dream of being an artist, you literally need to go to the moon and back. 

Intriguing - I wish there were more films that take outlandish decisions like this film does, but even this was never officially released.

Watched Online.

I feel like I may have said the same thing in a review of another film but nevertheless, this is one of, if not the only, film that I would ever describe as enchanting.

I have had a bootleg copy of this sitting on my shelf for a few years now and I kept waiting for the perfect time to watch it.  For some reason I had it in my head that there was a Christmas element to it, but alas it’s just non-holiday-magic and whimsy.  I have had this movie hyped in my mind for years and I was a little worried it wouldn’t live up to it, but it still managed to surprise me.  It’s incredibly special, with so many influences and ideas mashed together, it’s hard to keep track of them all, but somehow, it works.  I still can’t believe it; I finally saw it.  Five stars for a movie that feels like it’s protagonist, pure, optimistic, and endlessly chasing it’s artist ideals.

I finally tracked down this obscure gem, Tom Schiller's only feature length film, and it is very much an elaboration of his short film work, creating an absurdist scenario and couching it in a tableau of old Hollywood movies. A young man is determined to find his artistic voice amidst much oppression when the Port Authority takes over New York during a transit strike. This leads to some very strange adventures culminating in a bus ride to the moon. Featuring fun cameo performances from Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Eddie Fisher and even Larry Budd Melman, among many others. This reminded me a lot of Guy Maddin's work actually and it's a shame that Schiller didn't do more feature work of this type. This one though, is ripe for rediscovery.

It's fine. Creative and witty, wonderful production style, good comedic guest stars. I feel like it has more ideas than execution. Wish it was more widely available.

An underrated and ingenious film.

i want a recording of the band from the club scene