I'm not sure I would call "Moonage Daydream" a documentary. It's visually captivating and absolutely a must for every Bowie fan. This movie felt more like a ride than a movie. The HBO documentary Five Years was far superior in terms of a linear examination of the last years of Bowie's life. I went into this expecting or hoping for the same. I wasn't really a fan of Brett Morgan's Nirvana film "Montage of Heck" and I found "Moonage Daydream" to be told in a similar fashion. The only difference is Bowie is my favorite artist of all time. I would say Morgan focused more on "Sound and Vision" than story. My biggest issue with this film is the repeat usage of footage while Morgan failing to cover Bowie from the years 1997-2016. I just think of all the footage from the "Heathen", "The Next Day" and "Black Star" that should've been incorporated instead of showing us clips we had already seen. It made me question if Morgan was the right person for the job. He did manage to squeeze in a few minutes of the "Blackstar" video. But Bowie's triumphant return with "The Next Day" and still managing to offend people with his take on androgyny and religious expression, well into his 60s by now, was left on the cutting room floor. Still, will I see "Moonage Daydream" another 2-3 times? Without question. It's David Bowie on an IMAX screen! So sit back and enjoy the ride!
Moonage Daydream
2022
Documentary / Music
Moonage Daydream
2022
Documentary / Music
Plot summary
A cinematic odyssey exploring David Bowie's creative and musical journey. From visionary filmmaker Brett Morgen, and sanctioned by the Bowie estate.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 2160p.WEBMovie Reviews
A Love Letter to Bowie
Different, but fitting, overview of one of the greats
'Moonage Daydream' is a not-really-documentary about David Bowie, as it doesn't follow the traditional talking heads of friends, family and colleagues. It's also not a concert film, although it does have some live concert footage, apparently much of it previously unseen. Directed by Brett Morgen (who did 'Montage of Heck' about Kurt Cobain and 'Crossfire Hurricane' about The Rolling Stones),it's also not wall-to-wall songs - I'd say there were only ~10 songs played in full, with lots of others used as transitions.
The film does well to show his impact on his fans, with bits and pieces from outside shows and plenty of crowd closeups during the live bits. There's plenty of archival Bowie interviews, much of it overlaid with other visuals of him or with the psychedelic "screensaver"-type CGI. It's edited well, so it feels like he's talking directly to you, rather than an interviewer. Lots of his other art - paintings, video-snippets, dance - edited in too.
It's sort-of chronological, starting in ~'72 and the Ziggy Stardust era, covering up to the early '90s, but some of the interviews jump to an older Bowie, so he can juxtapose himself and some of the comments/views from his younger self. He was certainly a bit of a mystery and for a lot of the film comes across as someone just trying to find his place in the world. Good to see some of his reasoning around certain things and his genius definitely shines through. Hard to believe he's already been gone almost 7 years.
It's not a biography, it's a senses attack.
Saw this in IMAX 2d. Loud, vivid, it's not a biography, it's an exploration and celebration of Bowie's life, art, and music. Made up of clips cleverly edited together and enhanced to make this a cinematic experience . See it as big and loud as you can and get lost in Bowie. It needs to be three hours longer to fit in everything the stuff others are moaning about not being there. I'd happily have done another 3 hours of this. Came out wanting to listen to all the album's again and smoke cigarettes and bleach my hair and wear a raincoat. Everything i wanted to be in the eighties, I want again after watching Bowie come to life once more.