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20,000 Days on Earth

  • 2014
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 37m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
12K
YOUR RATING
Nick Cave in 20,000 Days on Earth (2014)
Drama and reality combine in a fictitious 24 hours in the life of musician and international cultural icon Nick Cave.
Play trailer2:12
2 Videos
50 Photos
DocumentaryDramaMusic

Writer and musician Nick Cave marks his 20,000th day on the planet Earth.Writer and musician Nick Cave marks his 20,000th day on the planet Earth.Writer and musician Nick Cave marks his 20,000th day on the planet Earth.

  • Directors
    • Iain Forsyth
    • Jane Pollard
  • Writers
    • Nick Cave
    • Iain Forsyth
    • Jane Pollard
  • Stars
    • Nick Cave
    • Susie Bick
    • Warren Ellis
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    12K
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Iain Forsyth
      • Jane Pollard
    • Writers
      • Nick Cave
      • Iain Forsyth
      • Jane Pollard
    • Stars
      • Nick Cave
      • Susie Bick
      • Warren Ellis
    • 35User reviews
    • 142Critic reviews
    • 83Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
      • 8 wins & 18 nominations total

    Videos2

    International Trailer
    Trailer 2:12
    International Trailer
    20000 Dias En La Tierra: Como Escribir Una Cancion (Spanish)
    Clip 1:44
    20000 Dias En La Tierra: Como Escribir Una Cancion (Spanish)
    20000 Dias En La Tierra: Como Escribir Una Cancion (Spanish)
    Clip 1:44
    20000 Dias En La Tierra: Como Escribir Una Cancion (Spanish)

    Photos50

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    + 46
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    Top cast21

    Edit
    Nick Cave
    Nick Cave
    • Nick Cave
    Susie Bick
    • Susie Cave
    • (as Susie Cave)
    Warren Ellis
    Warren Ellis
    • Warren Ellis
    Darian Leader
    • Darian Leader
    Ray Winstone
    Ray Winstone
    • Ray Winstone
    Blixa Bargeld
    Blixa Bargeld
    • Blixa Bargeld
    Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Minogue
    • Kylie Minogue
    Arthur Cave
    • Arthur Cave
    Earl Cave
    Earl Cave
    • Earl Cave
    Thomas Wydler
    • Thomas Wydler
    Martyn Casey
    • Martyn Casey
    Conway Savage
    Conway Savage
    • Conway Savage
    Jim Sclavunos
    Jim Sclavunos
    • Jim Sclavunos
    Barry Adamson
    • Barry Adamson
    George Vjestica
    • George Vjestica
    Rachel Willis
    • Nick Cave's Assistant
    • (voice)
    Lizzie Phillips
    Lizzie Phillips
    • Darren Leader's assistant
    Peter Stonehm
    • Delivery man
    • Directors
      • Iain Forsyth
      • Jane Pollard
    • Writers
      • Nick Cave
      • Iain Forsyth
      • Jane Pollard
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews35

    7.412.2K
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    Featured reviews

    10punishable-by-death

    Any creative person needs to watch this film

    Any creative person needs to see this. Musician, writer, anything, if this film doesn't inspire you, then it will surely influence. Personally, Cave's very frank and fascinating philosophies on the creative process were stirring, moving even, especially when one of these ideas is laid out in the narration and followed by a very up close and personal live performance. Or, a ten minute, uninterrupted sequence of the band jamming out a song. It was in that latter scene you can see the conducting skills Cave possesses, as while playing the piano he is leading the band into the song's dips and crescendos. This look into the journey an idea goes on until it becomes a story, or a song in this instance, is almost intimate and extremely honest, while still managing not to spill too many beans. The unconventional nature of the film helps this aspect.

    I really do think that if you write or create in any way, watch this film as soon as you can. I'm having to stop myself from going to see it again three days after i saw it. Note: this is not a documentary, but it isn't a movie either, as you'd normally think of it anyways. This film is most certainly unique, and one of the most thought provoking pieces of art that I ever ever seen, read or heard. Even his conversation with pop-singer Kylie Minogue (sp?) was interesting, as they candidly discuss different issues related to performing on a stage.

    Not much action physically, but the way Cave is so spiritual about how he see and treats the creative process makes every second riveting. I didn't want it to end. For me, this was inspiring on a level that I have never felt before.
    Red_Identity

    Fascinating

    The only thing I've been introduced with when it comes to Nick Cave is his score for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which is pretty much my favorite film score ever. Such soothing, haunting, mesmerizing music. In many ways, this film is exactly like that. I always find it interesting when filmmakers play around with what a documentary really is, and this does just that. It's very melancholic in its tone, very introspective. It has fascinating examples of music being created and just how much Cave puts himself into his music, while still balancing it all and not coming off like an ego project. Even for non-fans this is recommended.
    7bonstance

    Watch for inspiration. I try to not to take it too seriously re: Cave, but seriously for myself.

    Let me preface by saying that I am a Nick Cave fan. I see a lot of live music and a Grinderman concert I saw a few years ago is by far the best show I have ever seen in my life. Cave is a force, he has people around him who fit and compliment his energy.

    I understand the poor reviews. I get it. Especially when you watch the special features clip about Nick Cave at one point wanting to erect a bronze statue of himself on a horse in his home town in Australia, a town that he says doesn't really mean much to him now. Even the "archivist" asked if Cave was joking. Cave said he was/is serious.

    It doesn't matter if he was/is serious.

    My take-away from this film, beautifully constructed and filmed (and yes, there's a lot of self-serving and navel-gazing, some eye-rolling monologue) is this: keep making and keep doing to create a life with any meaning, no matter what it is you make/do. None of this, nothing anyone writes or sings or creates will really matter decades or (if lucky/effective/memorable) centuries from now.

    I tend to be really embarrassed for people who think too much of themselves or who lay it all out for everyone to see (I can't even watch an episode of American Idol, I get so uncomfortable). But this film helped me put it all in perspective. The days are counting on for all of us. So go on, get it done, get your bronze butt up on that horse and ride.
    7rooee

    He came along this road

    We open with Nick Cave in bed. Soon he's half-naked before the mirror. But this semi-staged documentary is no warts-and-all exposé. The lighting is kind to Cave's boyish body, and his voice-over is as precisely prepared as it is passionate and poetic. This rehearsed vulnerability sets the tone for how directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard will portray their elusive subject.

    Their approach provides Cave with an appropriate level of control. Control is essential to the process of self-mythologising. Cave is aware that myth is what gives popular artists their enduring legacy. It's not dishonesty. Myth contains truth: the truth of how art (and the artist) makes us feel, the senses it triggers and the images it conjures. And what images Cave has conjured over the decades; from surreal punk, through broken Americana, through dark ballads and blaring gospel rock and a parade of delicious dirges.

    The focus on the recording of Push the Sky Away means we hear very little of The Bad Seeds' earlier work. We glimpse The Birthday Party (and a very amusing vignette it is). But Cave and his myriad members have gone through various phases, and we get no sense of these because we hear nothing of them. Do not go into this film expecting a retrospective. Do not expect chronology, or even much revelation. Do not expect to bring a virginal friend and open their eyes to the strange, bleak, sentimental narratives of Brighton's finest immigrant. And yet it is a film for virtually everyone; for those harbouring an idea and a glimmer of interest in the creative method.

    You'll know from the trailer that Ray Winstone and Kylie Minogue drop by for a ride in Cave's car. These scenes are more than just elaborate name-drops. They're framed as natural exchanges perhaps imagined or drawn from memory. Most moving is the conversation with ex-Bad Seed Blixa Bargeld, which has the air of some latent regret being cauterised.

    Toward the beginning of the film there are a number of intense dialogues between Cave and the psychoanalyst Darian Leader. These scenes are deeply intimate and engaging, and it's a pity they fall away. It's indicative of the broader sense that 20,000 Days is truncated. Surely there's more footage. There is, surely, a three-hour edit of this movie, just as compelling and original and humorous. Yes, this is a double-edged criticism.

    Elegantly shot and exquisitely edited, there's warmth in every frame of this movie, whether we're in the archives, scouring scuzzy photographs from Cave's youth, or in the pleasingly chaotic space surrounding the typewriter of dreams. Forsyth and Pollard carefully walk the line between hagiography and dehumanisation: Cave comes off as neither a fallen angel nor a mad recluse. But he does emerge an enigma. And that's okay, because that's how the man himself reckons we like our rock stars: slightly unreal, swaggering and contradictory, and bigger than God. I'm inclined to agree.
    7leonblackwood

    Very well put together documentary! 7/10

    Review: I really liked the documentary about the weird and wonderful mind behind Nick Cave's work which began in 1973, when I was born, and he is still coming out with music today. He became a chart topping artist when he made the song with Kylie Minogue called Where The Wild Roses Grow but he has mostly stayed underground with a selective audience. The Australian born 57 year old has a very a different look in life, which you will see in this documentary and his music comes from a place which is unique and very complex. This documentary is extremely well put together and it shows different sides of his life, even though it's only based on one day. I must admit, I had only heard a couple of songs from this artist before I watched this documentary but now that I have seen it, I am intrigued about his earlier work. The epic ending song, which I can't help rewinding, is really impressive because of the violins and kids singing. It made me laugh when he was sitting with his young kids, eating a pizza and watching Scarface, which is politically incorrect for this day and age but that just shows that Nick Cave really isn't bothered with those type of things. I wish that more artist would come out with documentaries like this because it will make them seem more human and you'll be able to see the process behind there writing and musical methods. There is a part in the documentary were he goes through his personal pictures which would also be great to see from other artists at different periods of there life. Personally, I watched this movie on TV and then I rented it the next day because I couldn't get the ending song out of my mind so I'm obviously impressed with this film. You don't have to be a Nick Cave fan to enjoy this documentary because of the different elements that it covers so I will highly recommend it to people who want to see a day in a life of an artist . Enjoyable.

    Round-Up: I was shocked to see Ray Winstone in this movie. I couldn't really see why he was in this film and it was a bit strange when he was asking Nick Cave some questions and he wasn't answering them but the natural conversation in the car seemed very realistic. I was also surprised to see Kylie Minogue in the film and the conversation between the two of them in the car was a great insight into a period in his life when there collaboration exploded on the music scene. The interview with the psychologist, also gives you an insight into his strange upbringing and the relationship with his father which shows a more personal side to Nick Cave. I do find his lyrics a bit weird and very Jim Morrison like but he is an unique artist who doesn't get the recognition that he deserves because he doesn't follow trends and he stays true to his music.

    Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $2million

    I recommend this movie to people who are into their biopics about a day in the life of Nick Cave. 7/10

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    Related interests

    Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
    Documentary
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Prince and Apollonia Kotero in Purple Rain (1984)
    Music

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Quotes

      Nick Cave: To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all, because the worth of the idea never becomes apparent until you do it.

    • Crazy credits
      The credits are shown over a twilight scene of Brighton, shot from the sea.
    • Connections
      Features The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
    • Soundtracks
      Can't Get You Out of My Head
      Written by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis (as Robert Davis)

      Performed by Kylie Minogue

      Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd and Universal/MCA Music Ltd

      Licensed courtesy of Parlophone Records Ltd

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    FAQ18

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 18, 2014 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official Showtimes
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Dünyada 20,000 Gün
    • Filming locations
      • Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK
    • Production companies
      • Corniche Media
      • British Film Institute (BFI)
      • Film4
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $279,558
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $27,879
      • Sep 21, 2014
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,128,486
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 37m(97 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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