Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood

Apollo 10½ is vintage Richard Linklater — a rotoscopic, wistful, Wonder Years/A Christmas Story slice-of-life set in a very specific time and place, and yet uncannily atemporal and universal (Bewitched, Get Smart, Batman, Gilligan, I Dream of Jeannie, The Addams Family, Hogan’s Heroes, etc., along with a few classic films and historically relevant newscasts, are briefly yet lovingly recreated). The Moon landing itself retains much of its impact even as a rerun; one of the relatively very few…

Apollo 10½ is vintage Richard Linklater — a rotoscopic, wistful, Wonder Years/A Christmas Story slice-of-life set in a very specific time and place, and yet uncannily atemporal and universal (Bewitched, Get Smart, Batman, Gilligan, I Dream of Jeannie, The Addams Family, Hogan’s Heroes, etc., along with a few classic films and historically relevant newscasts, are briefly yet lovingly recreated). The Moon landing itself retains much of its impact even as a rerun; one of the relatively very few …

Guess I’m a Linklater fan now, I’ve adored all of his features I’ve seen and this is no exception. Kinda ironic that the “10½” part is the weakest aspect of this, the rest of it is such a beautiful and intimate portrait of childhood. Such an intense sense of warmth and memory that I rarely see conjured in film, couldn’t help but be charmed by it. Beautiful movie.