The Flaming Lips Space Bubble Film

The Flaming Lips are well known for their theatrics. Perhaps you've seen photos of lead vocalist/guitarist Wayne Coyne in the pink bunny suit?  In the early 21st century he encased himself in plastic bubbles during concerts and maneuvered in them over audiences.  As he states in this year's documentary THE FLAMING LIPS SPACE BUBBLE FILM, it was tricky business, maybe getting in two steps before tumbling.  He would continue this gag for several years, a signature bit.  Then COVID-19 prompted a nationwide shutdown.  The band was not the sort to just wait it out, and came up with an inspired idea - each of them would play in their own bubbles, and the audience would experience the concert in theirs.  A creative and brilliant solution, but practical?

You can imagine the logistical concerns, and the film addresses most of the ones that come to mind.  How long can someone breathe in those things? How many people can comfortably reside in one bubble? How would the bubbles affect the sound of the band? What if it gets too hot? What if someone has to pee? We get a fascinating nuts and bolts explanation of the considerable process, with the occasional concert number, each of which is performed and shot in a manner that can be described as otherworldly.  I would've substituted "What is the Light?" or "Fight Test" for "She Don't Use Jelly", but no matter.   A Lips show is a feast of color and imagination, and the bubbles add a real mystique, even as we realize they are essentially a logical outcome for social distancing (more than merely a rad idea, something that looks cool) in this psychedelic realm.   You very well may wish you had been there. 

But THE FLAMING LIPS SPACE BUBBLE FILM never really goes beyond the level of a VH-1 documentary or whatever the contemporary equivalent of that is.  Here again we have the static and dull "talking heads" style, and while everyone is interesting and has vital information and insight it would've been better to merely hear them while we observed continuous active footage.  It is possible to show and tell with some ingenuity.   Repeated shots of people sitting and talking is such a lazy device to me.  Can you imagine if GIMME SHELTER had employed this? It wouldn't be 1/16th of the effective doc it is.  It's a bit surprising that Coyne (who co-directed with Blake Studdard) would fall to convention when otherwise his beautiful mind continues to dazzle the world.  The wunderkind of such a bold experiment, employed at several shows during 2020 and '21 at the Criterion, the Lips' hometown venue in Oklahoma City, should've taken a more oblique approach to filmmaking. 

Maybe like his 2008 obscurity CHRISTMAS ON MARS, which is mentioned in this doc and yet unseen by yours truly?   Get back to you on that.

...SPACE BUBBLE FILM is still mandatory for fans, and once I let go of my complaints, I found this to be an intriguingly curious mash-up of a concert and one of those science shows that explains How They Did It.  God bless the Lips for adopting "the show must go own" mantra even in the face of an historic pandemic that leveled our country, and the world.  And did it in a fashion that was safe, humane, and, like much of their music, trippy as all get out.