Holy cow, I love this. Julian Glander’s surreal animated coming-of-age comedy Boys Go to Jupiter will open August 8 in New York at the IFC Center and August 15 in Los Angeles at Laemmle Glendale, with a limited theatrical expansion to follow. Make sure you get out and watch this on the big screen! Apparently, the entire film was created in Blender over a 90 day period. I wonder how long scripting and voice recording took to complete?
The film is like if Adult Swim teamed up with Rilo Kiley and the teams who produced Gumby and Adventure Time to create a surreal animated feature about a high school dropout turned GrubHub delivery guy.
The musical score (with and without singing) is just as much of a delight as the quirky 3D character and prop designs. The dialogue, extremely dry and witty. Everyone is playing it straight, but the punchlines land every time. “Sleep is for rich people.”
NPR’s Planet Money host Jack Corbett stars as Billy 5000, a teenager in suburban Florida desperately trying to raise $5,000 in order to move out on his own when his winter break is turned upside down by the arrival of two strange creatures from another world, one shaped like a donut and the other shaped like a magical slug. (Coincidence that his name is 5,000 and he’s trying to raise 5,000?). Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Miya Folick voices Billy’s crush Rozebud. The voice cast is rounded out by Janeane Garofalo (Reality Bites), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Tavi Gevinson (Gossip Girl), Grace Kuhlenschmidt (The Daily Show), Joe Pera (Joe Pera Talks With You), Julio Torres (Problemista), Sarah Sherman (Saturday Night Live), Tony Award-winner Cole Escola (Oh, Mary!), Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby), River L. Ramirez (Los Espookys), Max Wittert (High Maintenance), J.R. Phillips (Summer Camp Island), Chris Fleming (Hell), and comedy writer Demi Adejuyigbe.
Boys Go to Jupiter is Glander’s feature directorial debut, and you can tell it was quite an undertaking. I wasn’t too happy that our hero eventually gets snubbed by his crush, but in the end he ends up shacking up with someone who truly appreciates him; and that made me happy again.
A 3D artist, animator, and filmmaker, Glander has previously directed projects for Adult Swim, Disney, HBO Max, and Cartoon Network. His 3D illustrations frequently appear in the New York Times and New Yorker, and in 2019 he released the cult hit video game ART SQOOL. So if any of those things makes you impressed, head to the cinema and check this strange little movie out!
THEATRICAL ENGAGEMENTS
*for full weeklong run
8/8 – IFC Center [New York City, NY]*
8/15 – Laemmle Glendale [Los Angeles, CA]*
8/15 – Plaza Theatre [Atlanta, GA]*
8/15 – Rialto Cinemas Elmwood [Berkeley, CA]*
8/15 – Time & Space Limited [Hudson, NY]*
8/15 – PhilaMOCA [Philadelphia, PA]
8/15 – Digital Gym CINEMA [San Diego, CA]*
8/15 – Balboa Theatre [San Francisco, CA]*
8/15 – Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe [Santa Fe, NM]*
8/15 – SIFF Cinema Uptown [Seattle, WA]
8/15 – Rialto Cinemas [Sebastopol, CA]*
8/15 – The Screening Room at 1313 [Wilmington, DE]*
8/16 – Stray Cat Film Center [Kansas City, MO]
8/22 – The Beverly Theater [Las Vegas, NV]
8/22 – Hi-Pointe Theatre [St. Louis, MO]
8/22 – Pop’s Art Theater [Rochester, MN]
8/29 – SPACE Gallery [Portland, ME]
9/5 – Harris Theater [Pittsburgh, PA]*
FOR MORE DETAILS AND THEATRICAL DATES, VISIT:
boysgotojupiterfilm.com
