The December Cinema Minema features "Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips" on Sunday, Dec. 2, at 8 p.m. at Cole’s Bar, 2338 N. Milwaukee Ave.
The film (83 minutes, 2008, Written and Directed by Wayne Coyne; Co-Directors Bradley Beesley and George Salisbury) is as much about bleak isolation as it is about colorful optimism, this feature film by The Flaming Lips is set in outer space on the surface of Mars. The double failures of a clunky old oxygen generator and an exotic, but finicky, gravity control pod have conspired to weaken the resolve and psychological judgement of the crew and the film’s protagonist, Major Syrtis. This means he has horrific hallucinations that are centered around the artificial birth of the Christmas Baby. An alien super-being arrives and, with his otherworldly powers, fixes the oxygen generator, but it’s the station’s genius mechanic who fixes the gravity problem. And, in a way that crystallizes The Flaming Lips’ philosophy, “It’s magic and hard work that really gets the job done.” Beware, it is a strange experience not meant for children, but for the inner child in all of us grown-ups.
AnySquared organizes the Cinema Minima/Chicago monthly series screened each first Sunday of the month. Aspiring to present an atmosphere to enjoy good films with good friends (and good drinks), Cinema Minima explores a menagerie of themes, ideas and experiences through film/video.
