20,000 Days on Earth

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.

". . . The never-ending drip feed of eroticism" Nick Cave

I'm not sure either what that quote means, but what you may get is a sense of writer/musician Nick Cave's poetic inclinations and the sensuality of his life, encapsulated in a fictional day, his 20,000 day on earth to be specific. Starring him, of course, because he is the center of his universe, and he believes, maybe a deity or an angel. He once said about his creations: "I can't explain that dividing line between nothing and something that happens within a song, where you have absolutely nothing, and then suddenly you have something. It's like the origin of the universe."

This smooth fictional biography, partially narrated by Cave, first takes us in his fine car, which he always drives, to visit his therapist (scene so relaxed and interesting I wish we could have heard the results). Then lunching with band mate Warren Ellis, where the talk is mostly music, and over to an archive brimming with his memorabilia.

Interspersed are performances with The Bad Seeds, from his almost Leonard Cohen-like poetic music to his Jagger-like rocking in Sydney (he's an Aussie), where the capacity crowd is fully under his spell. As he speaks through the music about its transforming power, he also shows us his struggle to bring poems and lyrics together. He once said about author vs. musician: "Musicians are at the bottom of the creative pyramid and authors are at the top, and many people think it's unacceptable for someone to attempt to jump from the bottom to the top of the pyramid."

Along the way we see him and his sons eat pizza and watch Scarface. Although he seems to have little time for his family, when he does, it's relaxed just the way he presents himself to us in a film that gives much more insight into an artist's creative process than we usually get with bios.

"My music has to do with beauty, and it's intended to, if not lift the spirits, then be a kind of a balm to the spirits." Nick Cave

The world abounds with concert films and other documentaries with no greater ambition than following a famous person around for a while. These films are usually easy to put in the "superfans only" category. But maybe that wouldn't be the case if they were more like 20, 000 Days on Earth. All I can say is that, as someone who has one Nick Cave album but no vast devotion to the guy, I was entertained throughout.

Part of this is simply the beauty of the images -- the directors make even the most mundane scene stun on the screen. The film takes place across one mostly ordinary day in Nick Cave's life, purportedly the 20000th, and much of the runtime is taken up by fascinating conversations Cave has with friends and collaborators. There are a lot of stagey scenes that don't hide their constructedness, such as a filmed therapy session, or a meta- cinematic moment where at the behest of the film's producers Cage goes through old pictures that will soon become part of the opening montage. And then there is the obligatory concert footage, shot in a dynamic fashion that manages to pick up all of Cave's subtle interactions with the front row and the looks of desperate adoration on the audience's faces.

All of this would be for naught if Cave wasn't a fascinating subject. He plays the brooding poet here, providing ominous narration throughout the film, but there are also humanizing scenes where he watches TV with his sons or grumpily bosses around a children's choir (one of the more surreal moments here). It may be more charisma than intellect, but damn if I couldn't listen to Nick Cave talk for days. For all the directorial skill brought to 20, 000 Days on Earth, its greatest virtue may be in simply allowing us to experience two hours of Cave.

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.

I really like Nick Cave. He has cameos in two of my all-time favourite films, The Assassination of Jesse James and Wings of Desire. His score for the former is my all-time favourite too, a collaboration with Warren Ellis of whom he's seen hanging out together here. This documentary, 20,000 Days On Earth, is perhaps coming a little too late or early to paint the most fascinating portrait of the rock artist, though it would have been a less catchy title. His last album is good, not great, perhaps played a little too safe. Nevertheless, his creative process is still interesting to watch as we're allowed access into the recording studio. But this isn't a straightforward documentary. It has bits of verite, fiction and interviews.

It's a shame the fiction isn't as well handled and it comes off as contrived and stilted, including when the mystical celebrity cameos keep Cave company in car journeys. It's the way the film is shot too which uses the type of photography that's fit for HD TV rather than cinema though it has its moments. However, it makes up for all that for being very insightful. The interviews are no holds barred with penetratingly honest questions. Cave explains that his biggest fear is losing his memory, and I wish the film took that as its primary thesis, looking into Cave's memory instead of an irreverent day in the life. It does have its trips into nostalgia and excels in those moments. 20,000 Days On Earth is still a very good doc thanks to its subject matter, but it needed more focus and guidance.

7/10