Stuff You Gotta Watch: Space Lady
The Space Lady has earned fans worldwide with her dreamy Casio covers and winged, blinking helmet. Yet before she achieved cult fame, Susan Dietrich survived 30 years of homelessness by busking in her signature astral godmother style.
Sophia Feuer’s short film Space Lady captures the now 71-year-old musician in an artful 16mm montage. With an approach to autobiography reminiscent of Full Mantis, Dietrich welcomes the camera into her Colorado home while sharing stories in a non-linear flow. The film’s unhurried pace is interrupted by eerie memories of her parents growing up near a UFO crash site, or the time she was abducted during an abortion.
Space Lady concludes with a tightly cropped shot of Dietrich during a recent performance of “Major Tom (Coming Home).” As the song’s awestruck lyrics of floating in orbit fade into gentle synth waves, a smile crosses her face like she’s beaming back, too.
Review by Jesse Locke. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.