Fearless
Freaks (***)
review by Jon
Waterman
Anyone who’s ever heard or seen The Flaming Lips has
probably, at least in passing, wondered what makes them tick.
For those uninitiated to the band, let me briefly describe
their approach. Their stage show consists of fans dressed up
in fuzzy animal costumes dancing on stage, while lead singer
Wayne Coyne sends countless bubbles and balloons out into the
audience (sometimes with himself inside). He also likes to
use props to really add that extra oomph to his songs. For
instance, during one song, about a Japanese schoolgirl fighting
off evil robots, he dons giant fists. During another song,
he holds a boxing nun hand puppet and smears his face with
blood. But the music sounds so happy.
The documentary exudes that same unusual harmony. Documentary
filmmaker Bradley Beesley succeeds in balancing the good (the
musical accomplishments) and the bad (drug addictions and arrests
in their families), the strange (just about everything) and
the mundane (mowing lawns, talking with neighbors). What aren’t
balanced out are the musical and the personal sides. After
breezing through their beginnings and rise to popularity in
the alternative circuit, little attention is paid to their
career, how they create the music or the inspirations behind
the stage show. It’s less a celebration of the band and
more of a respectful attempt to understand.
When dealing with their personal lives, the film holds no
punches. They go into detail about which of the band’s
family members have been in jail and why. The band relates
to us various stories of their childhood that displayed their
rough and tumble attitudes. But the most fascinating scene
in the movie deals with Steven Drozd’s drug addiction.
In keeping with the up-front honesty of the picture, he explains
why he does it, his ability to quit (or lack thereof), and
how it feels once the heroin hits the bloodstream. What makes
this scene so riveting is that while he describes this to you,
he prepares and then proceeds to shoot up. Right after he explains
the effects and how he’ll begin to act once it hits – it
hits.
This film is definitely made with fans in mind. There’s
very little here to give you a good idea of what the band is
all about. But even if you aren’t a fan, it still should
be pretty interesting to see how atypically these guys handle
success. Aside from the obligatory celebrity praise, the interviews
are intelligent and very insightful, and you do take away a
better sense of who they are and where they’re from.
If anything, this should hold die-hard fans over until Coyne’s
feature film debut “Christmas on Mars” comes out.
respond to jon@filmbrats.com
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