Moonage Daydream review

MOONAGE DAYDREAM: 

DAVID BOWIE DOCUMENTARY IS A VISUALLY STRIKING ALBEIT OVERLONG ASSAULT ON THE SENSES! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

NEON

The legendary David Bowie in Moonage Daydream

 

            The late, David Bowie takes the stage in Moonage Daydream, the new documentary film directed by Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays in the Picture, Crossfire Hurricane, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck) and named after the 1971 Bowie song of the same name. While I’ve heard a good chunk of David Bowie’s songs and absolutely loved him as the Goblin King in the 1986 Jim Henson film, Labyrinth, I wouldn’t call myself a David Bowie purist. 

            He’s not something I listen to on our regular basis, but whenever a song of his appears on the radio or in a movie like in Starman, Inglourious Basterds, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Martian, I’ll definitely bop my head to it. I was intrigued by this movie when I saw the trailer at an IMAX theater, I enjoyed Michael Jackson’s This Is It a lot and thought Metallica: Through the Never was one of the most imaginative and bizarre experiences I’ve ever had in a theater (Also, another film I watched in IMAX when it came out!), given David Bowie’s unusual appearance and personality and especially his mad talents, this was a no-brainer. 

            So, I went to my local IMAX theater to experience David Bowie on the largest screen possible and…Hoo boy, where do I start with this? You know when Everything Everywhere All at Once came out earlier this year and everyone was calling it a visual assault on the senses? Wait until you see this on the IMAX screen because it is the cinematic equivalent of watching a David Bowie concert while on acid. 

            The film illuminates the life and career of David Bowie, one of the most prolific and influential artists of our time. Told through never-before-seen footage, performances, and interviews, the film explores Bowie’s creative and spiritual journey as a one-of-a-kind cinematic odyssey. 

            Overall, Moonage Daydream is an intoxicating experience that manages to immerse you and give you a slight headache at the same time. The trippy and bizarre visuals will be the most divisive aspect of the film, on one hand these sequences are so strange and imaginative especially on the big screen, but they also take up a good chunk of the running time (Which clocks in at about 2 hours and 15 minutes) and at times break the pace. 

            Granted, these nightmare-fueled and otherworldly sequences are meant to symbolize what David Bowie was going through at the time, but I felt they could have been scaled back a little so the pacing could have been stronger. While the film does dive into Bowie’s childhood and family, it also glosses over some key moments in his life leading up to his marriage with Iman, many of which are through montages which don’t quite have the same emotional weight as the footage of him in interviews. 

            The interviews of him are very fascinating to watch and listen to, Bowie himself is very hypnotic to look at and the stories he tells are interesting. While the film does glance over some of his life events, it does cover not just his music career but his acting career as well as his hobbies in art. 

            The concert sequences are spectacular and even more so on IMAX. With the large screen and booming sound, it looks and sounds like you’ve gone back in time to watch David Bowie perform. It’s a film that takes full advantage of what IMAX can do and delivers a larger-than-life and visually transfixing experience. 

            Had about 30 minutes of the film been cut, I think Moonage Daydream would be among one of the all-time greatest rock documentaries. But as is, it’s a well-crafted film that’s a little bloated and visually odd, but it should make fans of David Bowie happy…and entertain Bowie noobees like me.