DDavid Bowie controlled his image until the end of his life. And he was very clear about how he wanted to be remembered, so when documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen began working on the first ‘official’ documentary about the artist – that is, approved and supported by his heirs – the rules were very precise… and peculiar : Full access to the huge collection of material they hold. Nothing more and nothing less than five million articles, including unpublished drawings, recordings, films, diaries…, but no dates, no biographies, not to mention a chronological account of the events of his life.
For not being there, Angie, his first wife, and Duncan, his son, are not even mentioned. Not a trace of both in the two and a quarter hours of footage of moonagedaydream, film that opens in Spain on September 30. Its director –famous for works such as Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Crossfire Hurricane (about the Rolling Stones) or Jane (by Jane Goodall) – justifies it by claiming that neither Angie nor Duncan had any impact on Bowie’s chameleonic work.
Despite the restrictions, however, it has not been possible to avoid the inclusion of certain personal aspects of the artist’s life. Although it is in a very brief way, the film reviews the childhood of the protagonist in the postwar period; points out the coldness and indifference of his parents towards their son and delves into the influence of his idolized older half-brother, Terry Burns, a man tormented by schizophrenia who committed suicide at the age of 47, hit by a train, and who served as great guide for the young David Robert Jones through the paths of jazz, underworld literature and the transgressions of contemporary art…
And a little more. Neither sex nor drugs nor excesses nor gossip typical of rock documentaries, the portrayed person’s personal life is conspicuous by his absence, although his second wife, Iman, is pointed out as a transition from restless solitude to satisfied middle age .
Some time is also devoted to Bowie’s love of painting and sculpture, or his performances in films such as The man who came from the stars Y Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, In addition to the Broadway production of The elephant Man.
Bowie’s estate gave the director full access to his files in exchange for various restrictions. On the tape, for example, Angie, his first wife, and Duncan, their son, are not mentioned.
The emphasis, however, is on his musical work and career, with illuminating explanations of his changes in style and genre and a clever selection that avoids the obvious when creating the soundtrack. It is thus clear Bowie’s devotion to his work and the pleasure he felt for it.
Also forced by the restrictions imposed by the managers of the singer’s legacy, moonage daydream It is a work that leaves behind the usual formula in the genre. Namely: colleagues, journalists, relatives and celebrities remember the artist in question between images of performances, studio recordings, video clips, private material… ordered everything chronologically to recount childhood, beginnings, triumph, decline, resurgence and death or whatever is necessary.
He released ‘Space Oddity’ five days before man walked on the moon and the BBC used the song in its broadcast of the historic moment
already points it out the New York Times in his review of the film: moonage daydream “It’s more of a seance than a biography.” Witty Inspired Affirmation collage –kaleidoscopic, psychedelic in numerous moments– that Morgen has created by brilliantly editing all that material that was put on a silver platter.
Like that of a spirit, in fact, Bowie’s voice emerges recurrently throughout the film, releasing successive reflections on time, consciousness, diversity, the fleeting nature of existence, the universe…, giving him to the whole a most spectral air, while we get to know part of the creative process of Duque Blanco and much of his thought.
The absence of a linear chronology – the director twists time with constant jumps in a period that covers from the early 70s to the 90s – also contributes to dilute the feeling of being in front of a biographical work. Moonage Daydream actually tells what it meant to be David Bowie and how he felt about his chameleon-like character.
All this while revealing the sources and influences that permeated and shaped his music – shown here as a constant series of musical and personal experiments – and his relationship with himself and with the society and world of his time.
Bowie’s life and work is thus revealed as a kind of puzzle very much in tune with the puzzle that he himself turned it into. He put the first piece in 1969, when he released the album space oddity just five days before man stepped on the moon for the first time and got the BBC to use the single of the same name, a classic today, in its narration of the historic moment. And he culminated it in 2016, when he published his last work, blackstar, on his birthday, two before passing away due to liver cancer in his New York apartment.
Now we are left with his music, his discography full of lasting gems, his memory, his films and this film portrait called moonagedaydream, of an unpredictable and thoughtful man, who knew he was lucky and managed to be happy.
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