A cinematic odyssey featuring never-before-seen footage exploring David Bowie's creative and musical journey.
Released:
Runtime: 120 minutes
Genre: Documentaries, Music
Stars: David Bowie, Iman, Lou Reed, Tina Turner, Russell Harty, Dick Cavett, Bing Crosby, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Max von Sydow, Charlie Chaplin, Max Schreck, Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey, Ken Fordham, Brian Wilshaw, Geoffrey MacCormack, John 'Hutch' Hutchinson, Mike Garson
Director: Brett Morgen
Comments
martinpersson97 - 21 October 2023 Stellar cinematic experience for music fans David Bowie is forever one of the all time best singers, being one of the pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s and beyond.
This pseudo-documentary indeed does an incredible job at not only chronicling his career, but also capturing his wacky and unique artistic merit. It is no mere documentary, as the tagline often says - it is a unique cinematic experience like no other, and one of the best films of the year for sure.
Expertly cut, edited and paced - and, of course, featuring all of the best hits of Bowie, as well as being a transcending experience and love letter to the man himself.
Highly recommended for any lover of film, and fans of Bowie!
LeonLouisRicci - 9 May 2023 Atypical (Like Bowie) Celebration of an Icon...Kaleidoscope-Psychedelic-Non-Linear Art-Piece Trying to "Pigeon-Hole" David Bowie, Art-Rocker Chameleon, Poet, Painter, and Philosopher into a Standard "Documentary' Style, Just Won't Do.
It's Like the Proverbial Fitting a "Square Peg Into a Round Hole". You Can Try, but the Inevitable is a Predictably Unsuccessful Attempt.
Bowie is in a Word "Atypical".
The Presentation Here is a Celebration of a Multi-Dimensional-Faceted-Icon whose Nature is One of a "Never Pin Down", Elusive, Ever-Changing Performing Artist that Magically Morphs into 'Something Else", just when it's Noticed as What it Is.
Forever Avoiding Stereotype or Predictability, Expansively Exploding to Another Personal, Dimension, and Portrayal.
His Long Career, Includes a Sometimes Film-Actor, Pop-Singer, Rock-Singer, Composer, Stage Performer, and Behind the Scenes Poet, Philosopher, and Painter.
It is Bowie's Philosophical Soft-Uttering Beneath the Wild, Mind-Melting Visuals, and the Time Spent on His Love of Painting, Showcasing His Never Before Seen Artwork, that is the "Breaking News", Contained Herein.
Combined with Mesmerizing Displays of Familiar, but Energetic Montage-Collage, SFX, and Film-Footage of Concerts, Talk-Shows, and Real-Life Musings that are Expected, but Artfully Inserted for Entertainment Value.
This Could be Described as an "Experience", "Are You Experienced?"...
If You are a David Bowie Fan, You Will Be Pleasured with This Unique and Rewarding Presentation.
WARNING...CONTAINS STROBE LIGHTS AND FLASHING LIGHTS AND SWIRLING IMAGES THROUGHOUT.
hendrikdeneyer - 13 April 2023 Described as a "collage", more of an art student mess This can be considered as an excellent example of style (if you like pseudo psychedelic) over substance. I am a Bowie fan who knows his music, I saw most of his video clips and some of this movies and throughout the years I read several interviews, therefore I could more or less follow this totally non-linear mess, but I was extremely disappointed because I learnt nothing new and Bowie sounded like a pseudo-philosopher with no sense of humour.
I felt this product was a total betrayal of Bowie's sense of humour and strong work ethics, because the director was too busy showing off how good he was with cutting and pasting psychedelic imagery over video clips I already saw in their integrity and enjoyed much more.
Some audience members enjoyed it exactly because it told no story... so I guess it's up to your personal taste to decide.
anxiousgayhorseonketamine - 27 November 2022 Another dreadful piece of hyperactive garbage Another one like that was made about The Velvet Underground (2021) a couple of years ago
Unspeakable jumble of hyperactive attention-deficit-disorder kaleidoscope of junk images assailing your brain and eyes; The Geneva Convention should step in here; WMD galore ...
The dude who made this was born in 1968 maybe that is his idea of what the 70s were like but Jesus I followed Bowie All through the 70s and yes he often talked about schizophrenia and personality disorders (his brother was a looked=after schizophrenic we are told) but one thing he never talked about and was never present in his art was hyperactivity; he may have had bouts when he was on cocaine in Los Angeles prior to moving to Berlin but that was for a short while the rest of the time he was focused on different characters but it was never an MDMA+acid nightmare he was putting before us
So I am not sure what the filmmaker/documentarian or whatever he wants to call himself thought he was doing here it is like booking a headache and paying for it unbelievable. The documentary I started to watch two years ago on the The Velvet Underground (2021) was the same maybe those younger guys think to keep people interested you need to zap their heads with 1000 images per minute but quite frankly what is the audience?
If it is old fans they certainly do not need this sh.te if it is young people why would you need to bring it to the 21st-century if they're interested in David Bowie they must have an interest in the 1970s 1960s 1980s and understand and even maybe appreciate that things were a lot slower then and Art was still being made
This is shockingly badly made ... shockingly ... I should give it a zero and gave it two because it is David Bowie a man who brought futuristic art to the start of the 1970s when Ziggy appeared the artistic folks were fully hippie with long hair denim tie-dyed shirts and his appearance was extremely revolutionary at the time
To say that I am disappointed here is the understatement of the year. This is an unadulterated piece of junk .... avoid like the plague any plague ... it is no better or worse than the slaying of the The Velvet Underground (2021) was in 2021. Who are they going to shred next? My money is on Iggy & The Stooges ...
Try Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973: The Sacred Triangle (2010) instead of the 2 aforementioned also it will take in Iggy which no doubt some psychopathic drug-fiend will soon do the same hatchet-job on. I place a wager on this right here .... and it is dated :) This documentary is a documentary with music pundits and other musicians being interviewed (you know a documentary) not this Youtube eyeball rape some Sixth-former (12th Grader) off his meds thought he would concoct for his Media Studies end-of-term piece before his breakdown ...
Right: now I am going to watch another 10 minutes if i can last that long; hopefully it won't trigger a seizure or a desire to play Country&Western for the rest of the year.
EDIT: so i survived and he does quieten down a tad in parts later but all the above is still totally valid and I had to pause a lot and fastforward a few times. And now i have seen the entire thing i rate it "1"
CinemaSerf - 20 October 2022 Moonage Daydream I don't know how many music documentaries I have started to watch only to find that every time a song starts, ten bars in we get some waffle - usually from some hitherto unknown music journalist - that completely obscures the song. Well not here. Right from the opening, Brett Morgan makes sure we know this is about David Bowie and not about those observers with (usually all too adulatory) opinions on him. His flamboyance, his vision, his flaws, his character and his creativity are entertainingly demonstrated by what we see, and by what we hear. Frequently it is his own voice supplying the voice-overs; the clever audio editing allows his songs to be delivered using a catalogue of his own performances on stage, on video or on vinyl - all demonstrating the huge array of talent presented not just by Bowie himself, but also by the musicians and supporting people surrounding and inspiring him. It's also testament to archives the world over who have contributed widely to allow us all to revel in this man's work meticulously preserved over the years. This review doesn't need to be long or any more praiseworthy, and I am not a great fan of David Bowie - but as a piece of captivating cinema this works better than any other of it's genre I think I have ever seen. Big screen with big sound is vital to get the best from this chronology, and it is certainly well worth watching.
evalbertin - 7 October 2022 Good, but could be more inclusive and exciting. It's a good movie but I was disappointed with the narrative that proved to be tiring and the lack of inclusion of facts, people, songs that brought more emotion. It was possible to obtain a good editing of the images but it lacked to contextualize the narrative of the philosophy followed by Bowie with the moon scenes which seemed boring to me. For a duration of more than two hours, other songs also very representative of the work could be presented. I remember feeling more emotion in 2013 when I saw in São Paulo, Brazil, the exhibition called "David Bowie Is" initially shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I believe that a film could bring me more emotion than an exhibition. I can't help but remember that I was much more moved by the films that paid tribute to Fred Mercury and Elton John. David Bowie deserves better. It left a void that deserves to be filled with a new, more exciting version in the future.