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Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”

The magnetic trailer convinced me to check out this sentimental tribute to a filmmaker's formative years in a hometown not far from my own. The promotional materials and title emphasize Star Wars, but that's just one of many science fiction influences present. I'm astonished by the commitment that it took to make this film: It was in production sporadically from 2004 to 2006, then the special effects took another decade and a half to finish before it was finally released last year, which explains why the teenaged main characters are all played by fortyish actors when you look them up today (not counting the one who died in 2010!).

There's an appealing scruffiness to certain low-budget labors of love such as this, because the filmmaker's fondness for these people and this place comes through in ways that it couldn't in a big, expensive studio film produced by committee. There are technical errors like audio sometimes falling out of sync or the camera being out of focus, and there are extraneous scenes that could have been eliminated to reduce the film's demanding length, but the feelings depicted are so specific and so personal and so moving that you also can't imagine this being made any other way. I would have considered this to be one of the best films of any year in which it eventually came out.

− July 18, 2023 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply