Who Invented The Yoyo? Who Invented The Moon Buggy?

Stephen Gillespie4.0

A film of sparkling creativity. It is an openly political work critiquing colonial narratives and myths of progress. But, it is always funny, playful and full of the kind of glee usually reserved for childhood. It wants us to hold onto that energy, an energy that capitalism cuts against.The humour stands out: onion powered semi-rocket ships transporting chickens in makeshift space boots (kitchen foil) just so that one man can yo-yo on the moon. In this ludicrousness are serious points about where innovation comes from and the histories that are hidden. Our world is full of such small points of brilliance from diverse sources, this work makes us look at them.The form is equally interesting. It exists outside of the accepted filmic mode, a unique presentation blending faux-documentary, striking compositions and moments of animation. The animation has a sketchbook quality, feeling improvisational. It all goes back to a film shaking things up, but doing so with complete joy.

mdfmdf4.0

P.O.M.P. was a fine acronym to land on but Third World Astronaut on the Moon Project (T.W.A.M.P.) goes pretty hard

dirtylaundri4.5

Kind of a PERFUMED NIGHTMARE spinoff which elaborates on the particularly strange German episode in Tahimik's first feature. In MOONBUGGY he hangs out on a farm in Upper Bavaria, looking for a way to travel to space. A few local kids assist him in his task.Despite the equally hybrid nature of its visual material, MOONBUGGY is much more straighforward than NIGHTMARE, mostly because of a voice over commentary that never loses sight of the bigger picture. This bigger picture being, of course, not the space travel plot, but an at the same time proudly obscurantist and deeply political cosmology.Like many great directors, Tahimik can be a bit obnoxious, both in his really not all that dialectically thought through anti-americanism that boils down to fuck this western plastic shit; and in the strategic and stubborn overreach of his metaphors. Especially the latter is very much evident in MOONBUGGY, where everything just has to be Yo-Yo-like, or else.But as always with Tahimik, he takes the liberty to leave all structural limitations behind, if he feels like it. An he often does. The encounter with the woman in the moon might just be the most beautiful scene he ever directed.