Brett Morgen’s Bowie movie makes welcome ch-ch-ch-ch-changes to the music documentary formula…
Director: Brett Morgen
Starring: David Bowie
Running time: 140 minutes
What more is left to be said about David Bowie? The man of many names and faces has had countless documentaries and biopics made about his life and music – some great, like Francis Wheatley’s Five Years (2013) and some not so, such as Gabriel Range’s ill-advised dramatisation Stardust (2020). A lot of other people have talked about Bowie’s life, maybe it’s about time David gave us his point of view. This is where Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream explodes into the room, covered in sequins and face paint, blasting Space Oddity right in your face.
Brett Morgen – who directed the fantastic Kurt Cobain documentary Montage of Heck – has crafted an exquisite film; part rock documentary, part video art project, which fills the screen with colour, lights, and music. The animated sections, which are interspersed with archive footage of Bowie have been beautifully realised by Stefan Nadleman and Vello Verkhaus, mirroring the multi-faceted art of Bowie. Moonage Daydream follows a mostly non-linear style, with Bowies from different periods of the past, present, and future appearing at once. However, the film’s narrative is neatly separated into three distinct sections.
The 1970s glam rock heyday of Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane quite rightly takes centre stage, followed by the stadium-filling, mainstream excess of the 80s. Bowie’s childhood in Brixton and his early days as a slightly eccentric mod – with a penchant for laughing gnomes and tea and crumpets – is relegated to a side note. However, there is a poignant moment where David remembers his half-brother Terry Burns, who had a great influence on the young Bowie, introducing him to music and art that would inspire him later.
This is Bowie on Bowie…if we didn’t know better, we’d have thought that he had a big hand in the production of the film
The film wraps up with a quick visit to the 1990s, a decade which Bowie revealed to have liked very much. This era sees the return of a more experimental Bowie, as he explored genres like drum n’ bass and acid house. We conclude with his new millennium output and the final recordings which made up 2016’s Blackstar album.
The documentary is all Bowie – there are no talking heads of band mates, family members or hangers-on. This is Bowie on Bowie and is all the better for it, as the wit and wisdom of the man are interspersed with the visuals which epitomised the artist. Moonage Daydream is as eclectic and visually schizophrenic as the man himself, and if we didn’t know better, we’d have thought that Bowie had a big hand in the production of the film.
In conclusion, Moonage Daydream is really the last word in David Bowie documentaries; an entertaining, spectacular, and thought-provoking look into the life of a true artist. David Bowie may have returned to the stars from whence he came, but his message will live on forever, and Moonage Daydream may well be the perfect movie to spread that message. Brilliant.
Moonage Daydream is showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 29 September
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