APOLLO 54

(Italy – 2008 – 90 minutes / English subtitles)

Directed By Giordano Giulivi

Review By Michael Ricciardi

Bobby Joe and Jim Bob are a modern day Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, or maybe more like Laurel and Hardy, who, after discovering a mysterious cable (that starts in a nearby woods, runs up through the clouds, and beyond), construct a ‘cable car’ space ship to ride the cable wherever it takes them. Meanwhile, the Earth they leave behind is in the grip of a mysterious “communication”—comprised of four enigmatic symbols that appear in nearly all communication media.

And so begins a fantastic voyage beyond Earth, through the galaxy, and on to the “bottom” of the Universe. In the course of the journey, they encounter asteroids, an infestation of “dragons”, a mad/imbecilic toll-booth operator (who decides to pursue them), and ultimately, Destiny Itself.

In Apollo 54, the film makers--brothers Duccio (a writer, who also plays Jim Bob) and Giordano Giulivi (the writer/director, who plays Apelle, the toll booth operator), and Silvano Bertolin (a writer/producer, who plays Bobby Joe)--have concocted a ridiculously low-tech, low budget, semi-slapstick, space fantasy that is also a silly tribute to the sci-fi, b-flick films of the 1950’s, with acting that pays homage to the greats of silent-era cinema. A yellowish, “sepia tone” permeates every frame of the film (actually shot on Digital video, and FX-ed in post). With self-consciously bad acting, low–end FX and sight gags (including a rubber chicken that is literally a running gag), and some fairly beautiful digital graphics of the cosmos (planets, stars, galaxies), Apollo 54 is an often funny, occasionally clever, and sporadically off-the-wall romp through space-time.

Much of the action seems entirely improvised; some of it ‘hits’ and some of it ‘misses’. The subplot with the rubber chicken—a nod to a classic sight gag—went perhaps a little too far (though it still garnered laughs), while the final scene involving a game of ‘Stay Alive’ (known as ‘Trap’ in Italy) with the personified Destiny was fairly clever, but also felt a bit too improvised and possibly unsure of its direction. This scene is surprisingly nihilistic, or absurdist, and manages to thwart the audience’s quasi-bond with the film’s  semi-incompetent but lovable main characters. One wonders if the film makers’ true intent was simply deciding to subvert any minimal expectation of resolution, or perhaps just any human-centric view of a Universe governed by thoughtful design.

The film creates the strong impression that it was filmed in someone’s backyard and the rest finished in their basement computer room (which it probably was). One has to appreciate low-end production—and the do-or-die creative ethos demanded by it—to truly appreciate this film. Several I talked with “couldn’t get into it” and a few left the theatre—probably right around the cheeky ‘reel change’ at the mid-way point. But others thought it was a funny, clever, and silly confection produced by fans of the low-fi, sci-fi 2-reelers of yesteryear. But even these folks thought the rubber chickens to be a bit too much.

Apollo 54 leaves no room for middle-of-the-road types; you will either love it, or, literally, leave it.