Moonage Daydream

Director Brett Morgen took the right approach with 2022's MOONAGE DAYDREAM - dispensing with the current trend of lazy, cut-and-paste talking head documentaries and creating a big, messy collage of a man who would never be neatly compartmentalized.  David Bowie was a chameleon who embraced Art. Be it painting, sculpting, or music: glam, rock, what have you.  Someone who, in the words of another eccentric genius, changed his hair style so many times he didn't know what he looked like.  And underneath the makeup and theatrics was a reclusive and restless free spirit.  Not indentured to possessions or fame.  Or any kind of "normal" life.  

Those are his words, heard throughout the film.  A stream of candid self analysis.  Thoughts on religious faith, Los Angeles, West Berlin, the difficulty of social interaction.  Pulled from Bowie's personal archives, which include a plethora of photos, films, and illustrations. Even if he had not become a musical icon, it would be fair to assume he would've still been mentioned in the same conversations with Warhol and Basquiat. MOONAGE DAYDREAM, sometimes meditative, sometimes assaultive, is not meticulously organized or tight, rather a freeform head trip that would've been a "midnight" movie decades ago.  Filled with fast cut imagery of the aforementioned and clips from Bowie's music videos and acting roles in THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE and LABYRINTH.  Also, the films that influenced him, dating back to Buster Keaton. 

MOONAGE DAYDREAM has a recurring picture of a gradually star filled void as profundities are uttered on the soundtrack, but the film is not as silly as say THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME.  Despite its general adherence to chronology, it takes off on flights of fancy that will frustrate viewers looking for a court reporter's account.   This is the essence of David Bowie, from his point of view but also Morgen's, who received the blessing of the estate.   I think it is a worthwhile tribute.

Many of Bowie's well known tunes are included, sometimes with alternate arrangements. Concert sequences are surprisingly minimal.   We likewise don't get much about the music itself, merely some and here there observations about lyrics.   Mostly it is discussed in broad terms, as when he describes the songs of the Let's Dance as "positive."   I was pleased that "Memory of a Free Festival", one of my dark horse faves, was used during the climax. 

Fans of course have a head start, but anyone who appreciates an eager/anxious appetite for artistic pursuits and life should give it a look.