Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
David Bowie, David Jones, Ziggy Stardust, Major Tom, Thin White Duke, Aladdin Sane
Intro:
There are many live performance and bits of concert footage, which you just want to go on and on.
When some rock stars start talking about themselves as an ‘artist’, it can be a bit cringeworthy. However, when all-time legend David Bowie does so, it doesn’t seem in the least bit an over-claim. Singer, songwriter, poet, actor, filmmaker, painter, fashion icon. The list goes on, and he excelled and led the trend in so many of these areas during his decades-long career. He contained multitudes alright.
And then there are those weird and memorable songs. “Press your space face close to mine/put your ray gun to my head”. What does that actually mean? We have little idea but when put to music it sounds so great. The film reminds us of the crazy outfits, the personas and the love of exploration. To say nothing of his gender fluidity. Queer before queer perhaps, and about which Bowie was neither proselytizing nor in denial.
Director Brett Morgen (Cobain: Montage of Heck, The Kid Stays in the Picture) didn’t really know Bowie much but he had a ton of footage at his disposal, and he is determined to jam as much as he can into 2+ hours. At times, this can be exhausting and one wonders if it might not have been better to split it up and put it out on the small screen in episodes. After all, the oeuvre is episodic in its way. Morgen lays it out here more or less chronologically going from the ‘Space Oddity’ days up to ‘Let’s Dance’.
Some things are missing or only briefly alluded to. Nothing about the cocaine addiction, not much about his love life and marriages. Ditto the early, early stuff and the less successful foray into garage music. As Morgen says though, this isn’t about the biography and much of that stuff has already been covered.
There are lots and lots of clips in which Bowie shows himself to be a charming and witty conversationalist and mostly modest and self-deprecating. The one thing he really cared about was being creative. He was always drawn to explore rather than settle on a successful formula and string that out for decades (as many rock gods did/are doing). He knows he was blessed with talent, and he tried to create, challenge himself, and be alive every day.
It all comes back, as it should, to the music. There are many live performance and bits of concert footage, which you just want to go on and on. These really showcase Mick Ronson’s superb guitar and Bowie’s surprisingly strong vocals with that instantly recognisable timbre. This is what the fans will take away from this kaleidoscopic montage. And they won’t be disappointed. As a poet once said in another context: “On me your music falls as they say love should, like an enormous Yes.” Indeed.
