The City Dark | Film review

For advocacy filmmaker Ian Cheney (one of the narrators in King Corn), light pollution is a burning issue, and not just because of the energy wasted keeping urban skylines and suburban malls ablaze until early morning. An astronomy buff since his childhood in rural Maine, the director, frustrated by the obscured firmament above his Brooklyn home, investigates the dangers of too much illumination. What happens to disoriented nocturnal birds and animals? Can we still spot asteroids before they collide with Earth? Do we lose touch, metaphysically, when we no longer stargaze? Cheney’s an earnest explorer, even when he strays off course. Animated sequences are crude, but the astro-photography should appeal to science geeks and art-house fans alike.