The Fearless Freaks: The Wondrously Improbable Story of the Flaming Lips is an all-access fan's valentine as artfully scrappy and likably wide-eyed as its subjects. In an eccentric two-decade career, these Okie psych-rock Don Quixotes have morphed from—as they admit—"a no-talent hillbilly-punk version of the Who" to stereophonic mad scientists (with boombox orchestras and the four-CDs-at-once Zaireeka) to messianic space-pop humanists (on the pre-millennial masterpiece The Soft Bulletin) to Grammy winners (for 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots). Filmmaker Bradley Beesley, a friend and neighbor of chief Lip Wayne Coyne, proceeds more or less chronologically, cutting together intimate chats, home movies, concert footage, and the lo-fi, high-concept music videos he co-directed with Coyne. Beesley lingers nostalgically on the sub-Buttholes shockcore and highly flammable shows of the lean years—the doc is nearly halfway through before the band signs to Warner's and scores the immortalized-on-90210 fluke ("She Don't Use Jelly") that keeps them on the label through their dicey mid-'90s experiments.
Beesley's doting, democratic approach de-emphasizes the Lips' triumphant shape-shifts (if anything, the doc understates the sun-lifting miracle that was The Soft Bulletin), but he compensates with some candid material—most painfully, a long sequence of drummer Steven Drozd preparing to shoot up. While Drozd's matter-of-fact confession is the film's showstopper, the genial, graying Coyne serves as its de facto host: He takes us on a tour of the "ghetto-esque" neighborhood where he grew up and still lives (Fearless Freaks is named for the Coyne brothers' daredevil touch-football league), dispenses tips on dealing with fake-blood stains (soak in cold water), and hilariously recounts a robbery at the Long John Silver's where he once worked (it's now a Vietnamese noodle shop, and the proprietor's kids help out with the dramatic re-enactment). In the most enticing segment, Beesley checks in on the band's years-in-the-making sci-fi opus Christmas on Mars—filmed in Wayne's backyard, without a script and with sets assembled from local scrap heaps: Based on these sneak peeks, it could well be a 21st-century Plan 9 From Outer Space.
*indicates required fields. Please enable browser cookies before filling out this form. All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use. By clicking Add Comment, you acknowledge that you have reviewed and agree to these Terms.
Comments may take a few minutes to process and appear on the site. Please do not click the "Add Comment" button again while your comment is being added.
Webster HallNew York, NY |
Spotted PigNew York, NY |
Corner BistroNew York, NY |
Schiller's Liquor BarNew York, NY |
Gramercy TavernNew York, NY |
PachaNew York, NY |
