We all know that in the summer of 1969, mankind first landed on the moon, but what Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood posits is, what if he wasn’t the first? In fact, the first person to land on the moon, according to Apollo 10 ½ was Stanley (played by Milo Coy), a kid growing up in Houston who got the opportunity because he wrote a few solid science reports for class, won the Presidential Physical Fitness Award three years running, and NASA accidentally made the lunar module too small. That’s right, the one small step for man was actually the second step on the moon for mankind.

But older Stanley (voiced by a naturally charming Jack Black) points out that as a kid, he was a “fabulist,” which was another term for being a “persistent liar.” No, Apollo 10½ isn’t Linklater’s attempt to tell the “true” story of the moon landing, but instead, he uses this as a jumping-off point to explore growing up in the 1960s, a time when anything felt possible. Living in the suburbs of Houston, so close to NASA, Stanley says that growing up in this period was like “science fiction was coming to life,” and all the most worrisome parts of the era were confined to the television.

By using the rotoscoping technique of animating over a filmed image, similar to what Linklater did for Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, Apollo 10½ often feels like a dream half-remembered, a past long gone but hazily remembered. Linklater does this without the film ever feeling like the writer-director is proclaiming that things were better back in his day, but rather, showing just how different growing up was over fifty years ago. Not better, not worse, just different. There’s something magical about watching this version of adolescence, as the stars became within our grasp, but Linklater doesn’t sugarcoat a past where drinking and driving was okay, games at recess could end in broken bones, and toxic chemicals were thrown around without much care.

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Image via Netflix

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Yet even though Apollo 10½ is frequently a reminder of things how they used to be, it’s a warm and caring glimpse at childhood in a very specific time and place that still manages to be relatable. While television might no longer need an antenna, and drive-in movies are mostly a thing of the past, Linklater makes his audience care about this version of boyhood, and its fractured retelling of moments that still stick with him all these decades later. Through Linklater’s lens, we care about what meals were common in Stanley’s household, what his local amusement park was like, and the absurd conspiracy theories his grandmother would spout off.

Tied into this look at young life is the story of Stanley’s supposed space mission, which weaves in and out of Apollo 10½ as the Apollo 11 mission starts to heat up. Through this top-secret mission (featuring Glen Powell and Zachary Levi as NASA officials), Linklater shows all that went into getting a man to the moon, but through the viewpoint of a kid. These segments can often seem out-of-place, a strange diversion in this cozy story of 1960s living, but Linklater ties it all together in the end in an extremely satisfying way that intertwines the space with the suburban in a truly lovely way.

While it’s not clear how much Apollo 10½ is based on Linklater’s youth, Stanley certainly seems like at least a Linklater substitute at times—especially for fans of his work. In fact, all of Linklater’s usual favorite topics and interests are on display here, like the feeling of growing up in Texas, his love of baseball, an interest in great music that feels of a very specific time, as well as larger issues, like the questioning of how time and memory work, nostalgia, and the importance of the paths we do and don’t take.

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Image via Netflix

Apollo 10½ can at times feel like the greatest hits of Linklater and what made him who he is, but that’s a welcome change, and a reminder of his strengths as a filmmaker. Linklater’s last two films—2019’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette and 2017’s Last Flag Flying—were based on books and lacked the personality that one expects from a Linklater film. This was an especially jarring shift, coming off a stretch of some of the most personal films of Linklater’s career, with the perfect storm of Before Midnight, Boyhood, and Everybody Wants Some!! Apollo 10½ might be putting Linklater decidedly back in his wheelhouse, but that’s an exciting place for Linklater to be.

In a way, Apollo 10½ almost feels like a reset for Linklater, a return to what we know and love about him as a writer and director after a period of slightly withdrawn films. Through Apollo 10½ and this rotoscope animation, Linklater brings magic to childhood once more, another fine example that Linklater is one of the best filmmakers for nostalgia without the rose-colored glasses. Near the end of Apollo 10½, Stanley’s mother says of her son that “someday he’ll think he saw it all.” When watching a Linklater film like Apollo 10½, sometimes it feels like Linklater is giving the audience it all—the full spectrum of youth, life, and the beginnings of what we will eventually become.

Rating: B+

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood is on Netflix now.