More than a movie it was an cinematic experience David Bowie deserves, a dizzying mega-montage is an unorthodox and ambitious documentary that sheds new light on one of rock's most iconic heroes.
And what a groove! "Moonage Daydream" is David Bowie in celluloid form - artistic, weird, and constantly shifting its identity in a way that can only be described as psychedelic. It is an overwhelmingly cinematic experience, as pure a combination of sight and sound as could ever be achieved. In its best moments - which admittedly make up the bulk of its two-hour-plus runtime - it evokes an acid trip: a kaleidoscopic, boldly colored, and stylized montage of images soundtracked by some of the most incredible rock music of the twentieth century. The film takes its cues from Bowie directly, emphasizing images and sounds that capture not only what he was feeling in different stages of his life but what feelings he hoped to evoke in the audiences who listened to his music and saw him perform. The inclusion of stock footage of life on Earth from each era of his career heightens the story, emphasizing how life on earth was versus how Bowie envisioned it and how he changed it.
This is no average celebrity bio-doc. It taps into what made Bowie such a singular cultural force so effectively that it feels like the film that its subject would have made about themselves, a noble goal that few films aim for and that even fewer achieve. It is the film that David Bowie deserves.
And what a groove! "Moonage Daydream" is David Bowie in celluloid form - artistic, weird, and constantly shifting its identity in a way that can only be described as psychedelic. It is an overwhelmingly cinematic experience, as pure a combination of sight and sound as could ever be achieved. In its best moments - which admittedly make up the bulk of its two-hour-plus runtime - it evokes an acid trip: a kaleidoscopic, boldly colored, and stylized montage of images soundtracked by some of the most incredible rock music of the twentieth century. The film takes its cues from Bowie directly, emphasizing images and sounds that capture not only what he was feeling in different stages of his life but what feelings he hoped to evoke in the audiences who listened to his music and saw him perform. The inclusion of stock footage of life on Earth from each era of his career heightens the story, emphasizing how life on earth was versus how Bowie envisioned it and how he changed it.
This is no average celebrity bio-doc. It taps into what made Bowie such a singular cultural force so effectively that it feels like the film that its subject would have made about themselves, a noble goal that few films aim for and that even fewer achieve. It is the film that David Bowie deserves.