Danny Boyle‘s Sunshine (Fox Searchlight, 9.14), a sci-fier about a team of astronauts on a celestial mission to re-ignite a dying sun, won’t open stateside until after Labor Day, but it opened across Europe earlier this month. Some British and European critics have been groaning about the ending, but so far it’s got an above-average 88 % Rotten Tomatoes rating, so it doesn’t sound too problematic. It sounds excellent, in fact, if you leave out the equation of the finale.

I’ve asked the Fox Searchlight folks about seeing Sunshine here in Los Angeles before flying off to France and the Cannes Film Festival on 5.14, but so far they haven’t replied. If my suggestion continues to fall on deaf ears I guess I’ll just take a train to Nice and see it in some paid-ticket multiplex during the festival. (It runs from 5.16 to 5.27, and I’m guessing — hoping — that Sunshine, which opened in France on 4.11, will still be playing five weeks later.) I guess I could also see it somewhere in Italy since I’ll be going there for a few budget-conscious days after Cannes.

On one level it’s pain in the ass to have to chase down a movie this way, but it’ll also be kind of fun.