Coachella the Concert Film

Since Coachella is a concert movie, it’s incredibly easy to review: Just go through the following names, and if you give more “yeses” than “nos,” you’ll want to check out this film: Fischerspooner, Spearhead, Squarepusher, Mars Volta, Belle and Sebastian, White Stripes (who do a surprisingly awful rendition of “Hotel Yorba”), Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Prodigy, Oasis, Björk, Polyphonic Spree, Kool Keith, Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, Morrissey, Pixies, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flaming Lips. They all perform at a beautiful outdoor venue and are nicely shot with at least three cameras. In between, there are interviews with concert-goers and luminaries like Beck, Mos Def and Perry Farrell, as well as the usual tour of robot art exhibits. With the exception of the White Stripes, everyone gives top-notch performances, and that’s it. There’s not much meat to this film other than the music, but maybe that represents the proper modesty of a generation chastened by having to listen to the megalomaniacal rantings of baby boomers who thought that their days of naked gyrating to late ’60s corporate rock freed us all.