William Wegman

film 8 of 46

Astronaut

Film Review by Dean Duncan Jul 15, 2015

Structuralist, because there are three sections that call attention to themselves. Musical, because there’s a statement, a development, and a culminating recapitulation. Minimalist, because the means are so aggressively reduced. Fun, because it is.

First Wegman shakes the camera, which really does make a noise like a rocket when he does so. Then he shakes himself, as it were, and does his own version of the rocket noise. Then he does both, at once. Look at how one suspends one’s disbelief. We know he’s in his house, and just holding his big clumsy camera in front of his face. But his wit, imagination and generosity draw us to him, and to his project. Of course he’s an astronaut! Kids?