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Crazy8s: ASTRONAUT 👩🚀
The 2024 Crazy8s Gala was rich with short films that felt like adaptations of real-life memories, with the most relatable being director Kevin Cheng and writer Stephanie Joan’s whimsical drama, ASTRONAUT.
As a child of divorce watching these two parents, the dedicated mother and the absentee father, try to work around a marriage that was tearing at the seams hit close to home. Not only because I had those parents (shoutout to my mom, she’s the real MVP), but I also felt like I was that kid.
This captured the inability to enjoy the reality of life, so much so that eventually your imagination becomes your safe haven. For some children it’s toys, and for others it’s books; in this it’s the astronaut helmet he would put on anytime he felt like he needed an escape. In this case he’s also working through the fact he immigrated to a new country, and not understanding the ways of life also gets in the way and creates fear in understanding your surroundings.
ASTRONAUT captures all of this with a mix of exquisite camera work and editing that allows this entire story to feel like a dream until the very end when he touches back down into the foreign land of friendship. Also, the epic needle drop moment when David Bowie’s Space Oddity plays at the end was such a nice touch.
If I were to change anything, it would be the exploration of the father’s life. Yes, he’s an absentee father and husband, but there seems to be a disconnect of him being exhausted and wanting to be present that the story doesn’t quite grasp. The portrait of a proud family at the end would’ve hit harder if there was a montage of the work he was doing in China to help the audience understand he’s not just being there for his son out of his own convenience; he’s doing it because he actually cares.
Other than that slight nitpick, I’d consider this one of my favourite short films of 2024.
Enjoy!
8.1/10 🍿 🎥
Runtime: 12mins
Where: Crazy8s Gala (2024)
Crazy 8s Astronaut Short Film Review (2024) The Richmond Reviewer
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