Fantastic Planet, the 1973 animated science fiction masterpiece from director René Laloux, is one of the great “head” movies of all time. Armed with intricate, psychedelic visuals and a narrative of countercultural enlightenment and revolution, it’s a frequently revived landmark of alternative, adult-oriented animation. (The Clinton Street Theater showed it just last month!)

In stark contrast, Laloux’s second feature, 1982’s Time Masters, has languished in relative obscurity, an especially surprising turn since it’s a collaboration with the legendary French illustrator and paragon of trippy aesthetics Jean Giraud, better known as Mœbius. Yes, that’s right: The director of Fantastic Planet and the dude who inspired Heavy Metal magazine did a team-up, and unless you’re a hardcore animation fan, you’ve probably never heard of it. Must be terrible somehow, right?

Wrong. It’s just the level of thrilling, hallucinatory space opera you’d expect. Adapted from a novel by French author Stefan Wul (whose work also served as the basis of Fantastic Planet), it follows a young boy named Piel who’s stranded on the dangerous planet of Perdide following the deaths of his parents. His only hope is the spaceship captain Jaffar, with whom he can communicate by means of a long-distance, football-shaped radio. Jaffar, whose current passengers are a deposed prince and princess in exile, changes his course to pick up an old man, Silbad, who used to live on Perdide, and attempts to rescue the boy.

Along the way there are faceless angels, a pair of meddlesome aliens, a profusion of bizarre flora and fauna, and a host of hyper-detailed environments that Mœbius’s almost pointillist style brings vividly to life. There’s no shortage of eye candy, even if some of the character animation is more reminiscent of a Tintin adventure than a galaxy-spanning epic. In this new 4K restoration, the colors really pop, and seeing Time Masters on a big screen (Cinema 21’s biggest, in fact) has the potential to be a face-melting experience.

One reason the film hasn’t achieved the lofty profile of Fantastic Planet might be the conditions under which it was made. Having worked on the earlier film for nearly a decade, Laloux dealt with a more compressed production schedule for The Time Masters. The work was farmed out to a Hungarian animation studio, and the director was never fully satisfied with the final product. The film received decent reviews on its initial release, but may have been overshadowed by the previous year’s release of the Heavy Metal feature film.

Nonetheless, and despite lacking some of Fantastic Planet’s philosophical and political undertones, Time Masters remains a treat for the senses. Laloux directed only one more feature, 1987’s Gandahar (which was re-edited and released in the U.S. as Light Years). That one’s nearly impossible to see, either streaming or on disc. If it’s anywhere near as satisfying as Time Masters, one hopes a restoration and re-release isn’t too far in the future. (Cinema 21, Friday 8/30 and Saturday 8/31)

Sponsor

ALSO OPENING

Slingshot: Although this would be a great title for a new epic about the battle of David versus Goliath, it’s in fact the name of the maneuver that the crew of the spaceship Odyssey 1 must execute if they are to complete their two-year journey to the moon Titan. The Odyssey has a crew of three—John (Casey Affleck), Nash (Tomer Capone, aka “Frenchie” on The Boys), and Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne)—who spend most of their time in hibernation, waking every few months to perform routine tasks. John, we learn through flashbacks, was in a relationship with Zoe (Emily Beecham), a mission planner, back on Earth, and whether he’s just pining for her or suffering the effects of the hibernation drugs, he starts to have some troubling mental lapses.

From there it’s a small step to the sort of claustrophobia and paranoia that seems destined to plague all efforts at long-distance space travel. After an impact with something causes minor damage to the ship, Nash becomes increasingly concerned that they won’t survive the slingshot maneuver. Meanwhile, Franks becomes ever-more insistent on completing the mission regardless of the risks involved, while Affleck’s John starts to imagine Zoe’s presence on the ship.

This is the sort of modestly scaled (other than for flashbacks, only one set required!), filmed-in-Hungary sci-fi effort that can succeed either if it’s clever enough or if its performances are compelling enough. Here, neither’s quite true. Affleck is believable as a lovesick schmuck, but not as an astronaut—he’s got too much of an everyman vibe. Director Mikael Håfström, who made the Stephen King adaptation 1408 a while back, doesn’t make good use of Fishburne’s gravitas, and the relationship between John and Zoe is unconvincing. Add to that a series of slingshot-speed twists capable of inducing narrative whiplash in the last five minutes, and you end up with a mediocre rendition of a concept that could have spawned a genuinely unsettling, thought-provoking flick. (Opens Friday 8/30 at multiple locations.)

STREAMING PICKS

The Other Laurens: Classic films noir not infrequently dabble in doubles. Doppelgangers, lookalikes, twins, and mistaken identities all contribute to the unmoored sensation provoked by the best noir. Putting a wry comic spin on that trope is the best trick in this entertaining first feature from Belgian stage director Claude Schmitz. Gabriel Laurens (Olivier Rabourdin) is a seedy private eye who specializes in producing proof of infidelity who’s approached by the teenaged daughter (Louise Leroy) of his estranged twin brother François following his sudden death. At first Gabriel wants nothing to do with the kid or the situation, but financial pressure (François had been paying mom’s nursing home bills) ultimately gets the plot moving.

Gabriel travels to François’ palatial estate in the south of France, meets his cynical American wife Shelby (Kate Moran), and slowly comes around to the notion that his brother may have been the victim of foul play. Some of that suspicion peaks at the arrival of Shelby’s brother, a military veteran and helicopter pilot. Most intriguingly, the longer Gabriel sticks around François’ place, the more he almost starts to take François’s place.

The partnership of the grumpy, rumpled dick and the whip-smart teenaged girl is reminiscent of The Nice Guys, and anytime a movie is reminiscent of The Nice Guys, that’s enough of a reason to see it. The Other Laurens is an affectionate genre riff that wisely disdains parody in favor of knowing, sometimes surreal, tweaks. (Available on demand via Apple and Amazon.)

Sponsor

Peak Season: The second feature from co-directors Steven Kanter and Henry Loevner could be uncharitably described as an indie version of a Hallmark Christmas movie. Amy (Claudia Restrepo) and Max (Ben Coleman), engaged to be wed, arrive in Jackson Hole, Wyoming from New York City to spend a couple of weeks, as one does. Max, an eager participant in the corporate rat race, barely has time for his fiancé, and when he’s called away for several days, she ends up spending time with Loren (Derrick Joseph DeBlasis), a laid-back fishing guide who serves as an objective correlative for the benefits of ditching that type-A lifestyle for a home on the range.

If the broad outlines are overly familiar, Kanter and Loevner do provide an engagingly detailed portrait of Jackson Hole, including some gentle jabs at the economic inequality on which the wealthy resort community relies. Early in the film, Amy and Max get a drink with couple of retirees played by the adorable duo of Fred Melamed (A Serious Man) and Stephanie Courtney (Flo from Progressive). Not only was I disappointed they never returned, I kind of wish the whole movie had been about them. (Available on deman via Vimeo and other major digital platforms on Tuesday 9/3.)

ALSO THIS WEEK

Dick Johnson Is Dead: The documentary filmmaker Kristen Johnson, who transmuted her years of cinematography work into the stunning Cameraperson, next turned her camera on another topic close to her heart: her beloved 86-year-old father. By turns hilarious and bittersweet, her efforts to come to terms with his mortality through cinema (which includes staging a number of outlandish death scenarios) make for a unique take on the parental-tribute doc. Johnson will be in attendance and participate in a 60-minute post-film Q&A with PAM CUT director Amy Dotson. (Tomorrow Theater, Thursday 9/5)

Hanabi Japanese Film Festival: The Clinton Street Theater’s fortnight-long celebration of Japanese culture and cinema kicks off with a bang, including a pair of masterpieces from legendary auteurs Akira Kurosawa (1963’s High and Low) and Yasujiro Ozu (1953’s Tokyo Story) and another from modern mainstays Kinji Fukasaku (2000’s Battle Royale) and Hirokazu Kore-Eda (2013’s Like Father, Like Son). Plus the expected levels of weirdness from Church of Film (1995’s August in the Water), and, of course, Lady Snowblood! (Festival runs Sunday 9/1 through Friday 9/13)

Star Trek: Best of the Original: It’s “All killer, no filler!” with this quartet of voyages of the starship Enterprise under the command of James Tiberius Kirk—no bald, British imitations allowed! Wisely skipping the ponderous first installment in the original crew’s big-screen adventures (and the Shatner-directed, weirdly theistic fifth entry), Cinemagic will screen The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, and the underrated The Undiscovered Country, allowing you to bask in ’80s sci-fi nostalgia at warp speed. (Friday, 8/30 through Thursday 9/5; check theater for showtimes.)

Sponsor

Blues Under the Skin: Fifty years after it was made, this documentary/fiction hybrid by director Roviros Manthoulis features interviews with and performances from legends such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and others. These are interspersed between scenes of a young Black couple trying to survive in Harlem in the face of poverty and racism. It’s a movie that wants not only to preserve the blues, but to dramatize the truths that inspired them. (Wednesday 9/4 at the Hollywood Theatre.)