Moonage Daydream; Grade: B
Moonage Daydream is a documentary film centered around recording artist, actor, and visionary artist David Bowie. We will transport ourselves into a very wild, bold, and artistic approach into the extremely extraordinary mind of David Bowie through sequences of his life, performances, interviews, and more.
Unfortunately I don’t have much familiarly with David Bowie, other than him collabing with Queen on the hit song Under Pressure. When his passing came about it was surely a tremendous lost to the music world indeed, as he was certainly an icon in that field. When partaking this film: You realize he’s much more than a musical icon, in fact this man was an all around icon in terms of the creative field but more so an icon of life.
I feel a typical standard documentary style telling about the life of David Bowie would be an insult to David Bowie. One whom has held an extremely gifted and brilliant mind in the creative field, you have to go beyond than just doing the norm. Film maker Brett Morgen understood that assignment perfectly, as he transformed this telling of David Bowie’s life, into a pure cinematic experience.
Visually this film is absolutely stunning, it’s an extremely colorful looking film that makes you feel as if you’re on an acid trip. This is a type of film in which you can put it on mute as it’s still admirable to watch… It’s a truly terrific visual experience that perfectly fits Bowie’s creative style.
Substance wise though it’s not really telling much of a straight forward narrative, however it felt like a perfectly fitting tribute to Bowie. It goes through quite a bunch of performances, bits by bits of interviews, while showcasing tremendous well thought out dialogue by Bowie in which feels as if you’re witnessing an older wise fellow, teaching you lessons about the concept of life itself.
What I really enjoyed about this documentary is not only the entertainment and visual value, but brings a great amount of knowledge of learning not only David Bowie but more so what it truly is like to be a human being. David Bowie is a man who didn’t quite understand his whole identity as a human being, so he continually experimented through many different personalities and phases to where he tries to find a connection in a way. I admire the complete open minded mindset of David Bowie, sure some of the phases he partaken can appear a bit odd, however you can’t help but respect one whom is extremely accepting as a person, while being fully open to a grand amount of ideas and such. I feel in order to be truly successful as an artist in any field: You need to open your mind above many horizons in order to achieve greatness, as Bowie is a great example.
David Bowie’s as an artist you can say differs from many artists, as he doesn’t feel too big or feel higher than anybody. Like you don’t ever see David allow his arrogance get the best of him, as it genuinely felt like watching a relatable human being going through many changes through time and growth. The best part of David Bowie transformations through these many lifestyles is he’s doing this on his own, without any influence or one pressuring him to be someone whatsoever, as he’s in the driver seat of his own life and what he wants to be with it.
This film certainly gave me a few moments of goosebumps, whether it be some of the highly energetic concert performances, but more so the purely genuine moments where Bowie is just expressing how he feels about life as a whole. I can see why David Bowie had this tremendous fan base: It goes further than just music or film or art even… It’s literally centered around David Bowie the person. I mean how can one not love somebody like David Bowie?! Someone whom is loving, accepting, willing to be completely open minded, staying true to themselves, and really evolving, developing, and growing as a person. I wish more and more entertainers were as selfless like Bowie… Surely the world would be a much happier place.
Overall, Moonage Daydream t’was a dope film. I highly recommend checking this one out, if you have a chance to see this in IMAX or Dolby Screening do so it’s definitely worth it to see it on a huge screen with a great sound system! -Mitch Smietana