Young navigator lost his way
A doco that looks back at a cult 80s classic is heartbreaking, fascinating and insightful, finds James Croot.
Decades before Netflix hit Manifest and the blockbusting Avengers: Endgame, there was Flight of the Navigator.
Like those two relatively recent sci-fi crowd-pleasers, it was a tale about a person who disappeared for years, only to return having not aged a day. In Navigator’s case, it was 12-year-old David Freeman who found himself ‘‘abducted’’ by an alien spaceship.
While hardly setting the box-office alight on its initial release in 1986, it became a much-loved cult classic for a generation, thanks to home video and endless repeats on the Disney Channel.
English-born, Australian-raised documentarian Lisa Downs’ Life After The Navigator takes a soupto-nuts look back at the film’s production with several key members of the cast and crew.
She offers a raw and poignant look at the trials and tribulations of its youthful lead Joey Cramer (who was chosen ahead of a host of fellow auditionees, including two young men Chris O’Donnell and Joaquin Phoenix).
Through direct-to-camera confessionals from the now mid-40s man born Deleriyes Joe August Fisher Cramer and interviews with his solo mum Carollyne Leighland, we learn how their decision to return to their native Canada to pursue education over a Hollywood career just exacerbated his already burgeoning reputation for lying and stealing, as he struggled to fit in with his schoolmates.
Hooked on drugs and alcohol and frequently selfharming by age 15, he was constantly in trouble with the law. Attempts to get sober were derailed by him being introduced to harder drugs, culminating in an arrest for a robbery of a bank in British Columbia in May 2016.
Life After the Navigator picks up his story just after Cramer has completed his twoyears-minus-a-day sentence at a rehabilitation facility on Vancouver Island. It charts his progress towards re-entering society and a potential reunion with those he worked with on his most famous film.
While this has the potential to be the cinematic equivalent of a VH1 Behind the Music episode, Downs skilfully ensures the tone never feels exploitative and manipulative. Yes, Cramer is filled with regrets and recriminations, but Downs gives him plenty of time to tell his story – and it’s one that is heartbreaking, fascinating and a little inspirational all at once.
And although the back and forth between the moviemaking and Cramer’s descent and redemption can be a little jarring, there are enough insider titbits and anecdotes to ensure Navigator fans come away happy too.
A couple of repeated quotes and the lack of input from Sarah Jessica Parker (who played Carolyn McAdams) may disappoint, but like their other, well-rounded look-backs at cult flicks Flash Gordon, Goodfellas, The NeverEnding Story, Grease and Megaforce, the Life After team delivers a welcome dose of nostalgia aligned to something a little more thought-provoking.
Life After Navigator will next screen at 10.15pm on Sunday, November 27, on Sky TV’s Rialto Channel. It will also be available to stream on SkyGo.