Product: Space Is the Place [VHS] (1974)
Rating: 3.0
Po' boy don't quite gittit.
But it is undoubtedly a feast for the eyes and ears. Sun Ra isa bejeweled jazzman on an ambiguously funky mission to save one planetor another by putting on a concert; all the while he is engaged in a card game with the devil, the progression of which dictates the funked-up variables of reality. Ah, plot, what a triviality you are. There's more than enough to keep the really open-minded interested: probably the biggest microphone haircuts ever captured on film, dazzlingly awesome (in a campy way you've never experienced) effects (i.e. the spaceship), and inspired musical renditions throughout. Most, however, will have their patience tried to the limit, not even reaching the unanimous highlight of the film: the resuscitation of a thought-to-be-dead black man with a medical procedure that can only be called some serious old-school skills (I won't give it away). Will Sun Ra prevail! Who cares. Sit back and enjoy the trip.