Moonage Daydream (2022)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Moonage Daydream (2022) – B. Morgen

Judging by IMDb, director Brett Morgen seems to work principally on documentaries that take an expressionistic approach to the character study. In the case of David Bowie, this approach really works.  But it isn’t only the Ziggy Stardust era that benefits from maximalist cut-and-paste, sound-and-vision, overdrive – the in-text references (allusions to Bowie and non-Bowie related film clips) and non-diegetic voiceovers (mostly disembodied Bowie talking metaphysics) are suitable for any Bowie era. Interview clips allow Bowie to reflect on being Bowie, most enlighteningly (I thought) about the Let’s Dance era and the dross that followed it.  He was ready to be positive and to give the audience what it wanted – and later, he regretted it.  Good to know but he mostly lost me at that point.  Morgen gives relatively short shrift to the 90s and beyond, even as I hoped for more about his final period (The Next Day/Blackstar). But don’t come to this expecting a straightforward narrative (or even a totally linear progression) because this is just a stream of Bowie-consciousness.  But is there music, you are wondering.  Of course there is and it is great but it is much more likely to serve as a backdrop, with only excerpts from live performances over the years (sometimes edited together, so you see the different personas playing the same song at/on different stages).  Your mind does fill in the gaps. And yes there are gaps, historical and otherwise, but again that’s not really the point here. Would it be good in IMAX? Probably although you might get dizzy, even if it isn’t non-stop action.  Conclusion: as a Bowie-fan of longstanding, I highly recommend this.  I’m even more impressed by the man than I was before.