Freaks – chainsaw-wielding synth players, students, activists, and runaways wander in and out of frame as the camera roams the scene as a detached eye, capturing the drugged-out excess of transient, 20-something misfits living in a permanent state of ruin within a communal squat. In DOGS IN SPACE, director Richard Lowenstein takes a decidedly scuzzy, nostalgia trip through the Australian “Little Bands” scene, where platinum dye-job groupies and henna-red haired frontman writhe on grime-coated carpets encrusted in tragic, punk-poet romance. Virtually plotless and impressionistic in form, DOGS IN SPACE tracks its scenesters as they pile into a Volkswagen in search of fallen pieces of Skylab, wait in line for Bowie tickets, and drop wry conversations in smoke-filled rooms, cut by the ear-splitting chaos of: Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, Gang of Four, and Thrush & the C*nts. Cutting a lithe figure in his intriguing film debut, Michael Hutchence of INXS — mutters, putters, and mumbles as the frontman of the titular house band. Based on a true story. Every party has its end… (Jazmyne Moreno)