Christmas On Mars – a film by The Flaming Lips

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 The Flaming Lips’ long awaited feature film, Christmas On Mars, was finally released on November 11, 2008 as a 2-disc set. Included is a DVD featuring the movie and special features, and a CD with the original film score.

Christmas On Mars was written and directed by Wayne Coyne, singer of the legendary Flaming Lips (the one with the crazy salt-and-pepper hair and psychedelic smile). He also stars in the movie as a strange green Martian. The main character of the film, Major Syrtis, is played by multi-instrumentalist/lead guitarist of The Flaming Lips, Steven Drozd. The other two members of the band, Michael Ivins and Kliph Schurlock, are also featured in the film as members of the space crew.

Christmas On Mars is about a group of humans who have settled permanently on Mars (in their old space shuttle), and their first Christmas on this alien planet. Major Syrtis is determined to bring hope to his fellow shipmates by hosting a Christmas celebration, but things start to go very wrong. People go insane, Major Syrtis has hallucinations of dead babies, the ship starts to fall apart, and the f***ing gravity machine isn't working for chrissakes. But then a mysterious green Martian pops up and shows the humans that there is hope after all.

Christmas On Mars is indeed, as the film summary says, "a fantastical and disturbing humanistic freakout." Picture 2001: A Space Odyssey mixed with The Wizard of Oz, mixed with ET, mixed with something out of Michel Gondry's brain, mixed with dead babies. The film is absurd, hysterical, dark, suspenseful and even scary, but it is also extremely touching and valuable. The images...arresting and beautiful. The colors...an epic battle of classic black-and-white versus punch-yourself-in-the-face crazy-colorful. And let's not forget about the music, duh.

The score of Christmas On Mars makes you remember that some rock bands aren't just rock bands--they're gods, in disguise as talented and attractive rock stars. Some words to describe the score: beautiful, epic, creepy, ethereal, haunting, downright scary and awesome.

When the New York Times says that Christmas On Mars is "destined for cult status," they're not kidding around. Forget the Grinch, forget A Christmas Story, and especially forget The Santa Clause. This is the only movie you will watch for the rest of your holidays.

Rating: 4.5/5 woovies