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Moonage Daydream (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Moonage Daydream' is a 2022 documentary film about English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Written, directed, produced and edited by Brett Morgen, the film uses previously unreleased footage from Bowie's personal archives, including live concert footage. It is the first film to be officially authorized by Bowie's estate, and takes its title from the 1971 Bowie song of the same name.
'Moonage Daydream' had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it received positive reviews. It was released theatrically and in IMAX in the United States on 16 September 2022.
Synopsis
The film's official synopsis reads:
'Moonage Daydream' illuminates the life and genius of David Bowie, one of the most prolific and influential artists of our time. Told through sublime, kaleidoscopic, never-before-seen footage, performances and music, Brett Morgen's ('The Kid Stays in the Picture', 'Cobain: Montage of Heck', 'Jane') feature-length experiential cinematic odyssey explores David Bowie's creative, musical and spiritual journey. The film is guided by David Bowie's own narration and is the first officially sanctioned film on the artist.
Production
In 2021, 'Variety' reported that Brett Morgen had been developing a film based on David Bowie, "for which an official title has not been disclosed, for the last four years." It is the first film to be officially authorized by Bowie's estate. Working in cooperation with the estate, Morgen was granted access to an archive of five million different items, including paintings, drawings, recordings, photographs, films, and journals. Tony Visconti, who spent years as Bowie's producer, serves as the film's music producer.
Marketing
An official teaser trailer for the film was uploaded to YouTube on 23 May 2022. A full trailer was released on 27 July.
Release
'Moonage Daydream' had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2022. It was released in IMAX and theatres in the United States on 16 September 2022. It is also expected to be released for streaming on HBO Max in spring 2023.
Soundtrack
{{Infobox album
| name = Moonage Daydream A Brett Morgen Film
| type = soundtrack
| artist = David Bowie
| cover = David_Bowie_-_Moonage_Daydream_-_Soundtrack_Cover.jpeg
| released =
| label = Rhino/Parlophone
| producer = Tony Visconti
| misc =
}}
To accompany the film, a soundtrack album containing music of Bowie's used therein was announced on . An initial digital release was set for , with a 2x CD version to follow on and a 3x vinyl record release at an unspecified point in 2023. The music on the album consists of rare or previously unreleased live tracks, as well as newly created remixes, interspersed with monologues from Bowie himself.
Track listing
Personel
* Tony Visconti - Producer
* John Warhurst, Nina Hartstone - Supervising Sound Engineers
* Bill Stein - Re-Recording Engineer
* Jannek Zechner - Mixing Engineer
* Brett Morgen - Musical Mashups designed and edited by
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 88 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "An audiovisual treat for Bowie fans, 'Moonage Daydream' takes an appropriately distinctive approach to one of modern music's most mercurial artists." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 83 out of 100 based on 29 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Owen Gleiberman of 'Variety' wrote that "We've seen trippy documentaries before, but Morgen seems to have created this movie to 'be' rock 'n' roll. [...] Watching 'Moonage Daydream', there are essential facts you won't hear, and many touchstones that get skipped over (in the entire movie, you'll never even see an album cover). But you get closer than you expect to the chilly sexy enigma of who David Bowie really was." Corey Seymour of 'Vogue' commended the film's editing and soundtrack, and called the film "astounding, bombastic, groundbreaking, electrifying, and among the best films about any artist or musician I've ever seen. [...] Morgen has [assembled] a mesmerizing collage of sound and vision that will entrance and enrich any Bowie fan and, presumably, make new fans of anyone lucky enough to have this be their first real encounter with his world."
Peter Bradshaw, in his review of the film for 'The Guardian', gave it a score of five out of five stars. He called the film "a glorious celebratory montage", and wrote favourably of how the film "shows that his fans, especially the ecstatic young people at the Hammersmith Odeon and Earl's Court shows, were not different from Bowie: they became Bowie. Overwhelmed, transfigured, their faces looked like his face." Robert Daniels, writing for 'RogerEbert.com', praised the film's editing, and called it "a bombastic, overstimulating, poignant, life-affirming, and risk-taking summation of the artist's ethos and maturation as a person. In short, 'Moonage Daydream' is the film Bowie would've proudly made." Fionnuala Halligan of 'Screen Daily' called the film "a pristine sensory voyage, with astonishing sound", and lauded its presentation as "skilled and satisfyingly unconventional".
'Entertainment Weekly's Joshua Rothkopf gave the film a grade of "A", complimenting the remixed music by Tony Visconti and noting that, "Occasionally, Morgen's flow can feel belabored and imprecise, [...] But pruning would hamper the unencumbered risk-taking on display," an approach which Rothkopft writes "instantly vaults the effort to the top of the Bowie docs." Siddhant Adlakha of 'IndieWire' gave the film a "B+", characterizing it thus: "More sensory experience than straightforward recounting, ['Moonage Daydream'] is about feeling your way through a chaotic world with Ziggy Stardust as your anchor." He concluded that, "As musical documentaries go, it's more ambitious than anything you're likely to witness for quite some time." Paul Sinclair of 'SuperDeluxeEdition' was more critical in his review, praising the film's integration of archival footage, animation, interview audio, and music while criticizing the pacing and length, describing the result as "oddly unmoving" and stating that "the film is at least half an hour too long, a feeling accentuated by the reuse of clips you've already seen on a number of occasions which gives a rather circular, haven't-we-been-here-before vibe to proceedings." Sinclair also criticized a perceived lack of sufficient coverage for certain periods of Bowie's career, singling out his tenure on EMI America Records and his membership in Tin Machine.
References
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