Space Is the Place

The blaxploitation genre never ceases to surprise me the number of times it throws up truly crazy films. This one appears to be clearly aimed at the stoned-out-of-their-heads demographic - it's a combination of blaxploitation, sci-fi, concert footage and social commentary. It's also a vehicle for avant-garde jazzman Sun Ra, who, bizarrely, plays himself as a being from outer space who lands his spaceship in the middle of the San Francisco ghetto and tries to convince the black population there to follow him and colonise another planet, leaving the shackles of Earth behind. Sun Ra goes around everywhere donning pharaoh robes and headgear and even indulges in a Seventh Seal inspired Tarot game with a pimp like character in the middle of the desert. The storyline is very strange and loosely told, while the musical numbers involve Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra knocking out their very weird African inflected experimental jazz. It's a pretty baffling experience but one that is worth checking out.

Sun Ra plays a cosmic seer who lands in his spaceship (powered by music) on Earth and makes plans to resettle black people on a new planet from the white power structure. He is like the Moses figure in this sci-fi blaxploitation film which mixes surrealism, avant-garde jazz in a proposal like no other. Danny Ray Thompson. A mainstay in the Sun Ra Arkestra since the late 60s who's undulating baritone sax riff makes up the backbone of the evergreen Space Is The Place. A rare, unmissable trash-culture, sci-fi classic tantalizing glimpse into RA's fantastical world.

One of my favorite musical bios of all time which offers sharp social commentary and a stylish Afrofuturist vision. A truly great biography of melancholic musician, an Afrofuturist long before it was named, devastatingly multi-layered and esoteric. One of the best 'cult films' ever that defies genre categorisation and manages to truly uphold its otherworldly feel while burning itself in your brain. FYI Interestingly the first person of African descent in space was Afro-Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, via Soviet Interkosmos program in 1980. Highly recommend for those who love surrealistic films and a fan of Coltrane (John & Alice), Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock, and Cannonball Adderley.

The earth cannot move without music. The earth moves in a certain rhythm, a certain sound, a certain note. When the music stops the earth will stop and everything upon it will die.

Sun Ra, Space is the Place.

I was credited as 2nd unit director on this film. Ra was a calm, sort of surreal Buddha through the whole thing, even one time when the script called for him to be tied-up in a chair and menaced by gangsters. During the many hours it took to get this scene on film, Ra just quietly sat tied-up in that chair, so quietly that a couple of times I went over to make sure he was still breathing. He said he was fine, just relaxing on "another plain".

Near the end of the shoot, we had a nightclub scene with about 70 extras and a chorus of girls on stage. They were supposed to dance to a tune that Ra insisted on playing live on camera with his band. I had been bugging him unsuccessfully for days as to what he was going to play so that the girls could rehearse.

On the day scheduled to shoot this scene, I nervously reminded Ra again about the music. Ra smiled, casually produced some old vinyl albums done by other bands and a portable record player, and suggested that I play them for the chorus to see what they liked. I did, and they caught fire with one of the tunes. Ra said "Fine. You got any music manuscript paper?" I was ready for him. I did.

And so, during lunch break, Ra listened to the record, transposed the instrumental lead sheets to paper for his band with a few of his own alterations, and we choreographed and shot it after lunch.

For my money, Ra was a fine musician...extremely cool and really "there".

This film is very random and disjointed. There is not much structure or consistency so it is hard to follow. The characterisation is a bit abstract and mythological. It will probably be easier to swallow for those who are already familiar with Sun Ra.

I'll tell you what, Sun Ra was a gift we didn't love enough. He gave us fifty years of his time to "get it," but no one bothered. He's sitting on his home planet right now, entertaining his minions on Saturn. Sun Ra made one movie, that's all he needed to preach his philosophy. It is a brilliant statement on race relations in the early 1970's. An interesting story, engaging characters, and some out there music. One fault: this was not his best period in music. His records from the 50's and 60's were astounding, good enough to make this film even more of a classic. Space Is The Place is essential viewing for those who care about jazz or Africana cinema.