Brett Morgen's 140 minute long Moonage Daydream, is a neon-soaked nonlinear joyride through the late David Bowie's life and career, concentrating on his personal philosophy to life and art, as narrated wholly and solely (to its detriment) by the man himself. Bowie freaks and acolytes will I imagine, bow down before it, declaring it the best thing since sliced bread and vinyl music. I on the other hand, as a fan of his music, found its perspective of the great man and musician to be too narrow and dare I say it, despite some exhilarating sequences, even boring in places.
The documentary which was apparently approved by the Bowie family and estate, was clearly a labour of love for director/producer/editor Morgen, who has assembled some amazing footage of Bowie in and out of concert and has been very creative in its depiction onscreen. But I for one became entirely sick of hearing Bowie drone on endlessly and singularly about his thoughts on time, aging, art (why only painting?) and mortality. Can I make it very clear here that I'm not being critical of Bowie himself. This is entirely criticism of Morgen's interpretive treatment of the dead musician. For all we know, Bowie himself may have been aghast, at being treated in this sort of hyper - reverential manner.
I personally wanted to hear his thoughts on influences arising from his collaborations with a vast array of other musicians and producers. I wanted to at least hear something about how his life may have been affected by his his marriages and his children. For those like me again, who might be interested in his notable side ventures into acting? Nothing ... nothing at all! Morgen portrays him as this incredibly gifted, solitary traveller endlessly (and repetitively) traversing the ends of the earth seeking spiritual and artistic enlightmennt. No one else is invited to the gig. We see some vision of notables and stalwarts such as Mick Ronsen, Brian Eno and second wife Iman (ever so briefly), but we never hear from them. It becomes quite frustrating.
Moonage Daydream is a complicated, monumental paen to a hugely gifted artist, but for all its fine production values and occasional interludes of genuine excitement, I found it oddly one - dimensional and repetitive and ultimately failing to do justice to the man.
