|
Post by Viced on Sept 28, 2022 20:07:30 GMT
There are times where it definitely feels like it's trying too hard to be artsy... but overall it's a pretty powerful and transfixing experience that does a great, unique job of encapsulating Bowie without jamming information/talking heads down your throat. Worth seeing on the big screen for the music and performances for sure.
|
|
|
Post by mikediastavrone96 on Sept 28, 2022 20:59:39 GMT
I was excited for it, and do think it's worthwhile as an IMAX experience for some of the light show effects and to hear Bowie's music blasting through the speakers, but the movie left me wanting. Brett Morgen has said in interviews he was interested solely in creating an experience and I do appreciate that more mainstream documentaries are breaking away from the talking heads form, but this movie for all it's effects and montages really had nothing to say than "wasn't Bowie cool?" The most insight we get into the man come from voiceover narrations from the man himself completely ripped from their context, wavering between perspective into his thought process to stoner thoughts (the fact the film never once mentions drugs is hysterical). If someone were watching this without much of an idea of who Bowie was, they'd have no idea he had a first wife, children, or hell even collaborators (Lou Reed? Iggy Pop? Niles Rodgers?). Instead we get bright lights, redundant images of Bowie looking cool interspersed without much care for the clear timeline the film is setting up, and Nosferatu all done with no care for raising ideas or even a clever juxtaposition. Form that never becomes content, but sure does look and sound pretty. Can't imagine watching this outside of the theater.
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on Sept 28, 2022 21:12:32 GMT
I was excited for it, and do think it's worthwhile as an IMAX experience for some of the light show effects and to hear Bowie's music blasting through the speakers, but the movie left me wanting. Brett Morgen has said in interviews he was interested solely in creating an experience and I do appreciate that more mainstream documentaries are breaking away from the talking heads form, but this movie for all it's effects and montages really had nothing to say than "wasn't Bowie cool?" The most insight we get into the man come from voiceover narrations from the man himself completely ripped from their context, wavering between perspective into his thought process to stoner thoughts (the fact the film never once mentions drugs is hysterical). If someone were watching this without much of an idea of who Bowie was, they'd have no idea he had a first wife, children, or hell even collaborators (Lou Reed? Iggy Pop? Niles Rodgers?). Instead we get bright lights, redundant images of Bowie looking cool interspersed without much care for the clear timeline the film is setting up, and Nosferatu all done with no care for raising ideas or even a clever juxtaposition. Form that never becomes content, but sure does look and sound pretty. Can't imagine watching this outside of the theater. THIS ^......also the most fascinating thing about David Bowie (imo) were his many implicit contradictions - most of which were variations on Art & Commerce & Identity - which this movie misses as a thematic device. It's also really long......slight recommendation from me for the clips but I'd reckon David Bowie wouldn't like this too much actually.....it is much flatter than he ever was......it's hard to see the difference between Bowie and other Pop stars from this film - and he was very different from all of them.......
|
|
|
Post by DeepArcher on Sept 28, 2022 22:39:38 GMT
I do wish there had been more just plain unedited concert footage. And it coulda been way shorter - just end it after his comeback with the release of Let's Dance. The movie achieves nothing productive by skimming through the last 35 years of his life in 20-30 minutes. That said ... I'm too big of a Bowie devotee to not have been into this for the most part. There's a lot of incredible footage and the way the film mercifully avoids the traditional talking head/voiceover structure makes it infinitely more watchable than nearly any other rock doc ... at least to me. Definitely a great big screen experience that I couldn't really imagine watching otherwise.
|
|
|
Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jan 24, 2023 22:54:53 GMT
I get the criticism. It's kind of Baby's First Bowie, a greatest hits playlist more than a deep dive. It's a cursory progression through Bowie's eras cutting together tidbits from his interviews so he describes himself in his own words but without much depth. Morgen going for a freewheeling structure allows him to make a chronological bio-doc without boring talking heads sermonizing about impact or importance or getting lost in anecdotes but it also prevents him from going as deep as he could have.
Now me personally, I liked this a lot despite all that. Especially as someone who isn't as familiar with Bowie's music as I should be and I think uninitiated viewers will get a lot more out of this than Bowie pros. The use of Bowie's tracks laced together creates an impenetrable wall of electronic sound that washes over you (I can't imagine the hours of work sound mixers must've put into this) and Morgen's fast-paced kaleidoscopic edit creates an intoxicating experience that's impossible to look away from. I was never not engaged or entertained and I would've loved to have seen this in theaters. It's a tribute to the man and his music more than a reckoning with his art and that's mostly fine with me especially as someone who's seen a lot of tribute docs that are boring as fuck (give me this over Edgar Wright's Sparks Bros doc any day). This hits kinda like Velvet Underground did last year and like that film it made me hunger for more.
|
|