Moonage Daydream

One of the best music documentaries I've ever seen in my life. Narratively and visually elusive, as David Bowie himself was, free from the encyclopedic structure of the vast majority of similar works, and also full of life truths that I would chisel in stone. No, I'm still not a fan of Bowie's 1970s Ziggy Stardust phase, it doesn't appeal to me musically, and this film hasn't changed that (even Bowie himself questions that era of his in a few sentences), but I love his creative explosion in the 1990s. I love his music in the 1980s, especially the conceptual duo “1. Outside” and “Earthling”, and the jazz and light fusion electronica infused album “Black Tie White Noise”, one of his lesser works, but for me probably his best album ever. What I admire most about Bowie is that he was never satisfied with himself throughout his life, he was always searching, and that search was the meaning of life for him. He still had the flame of a true artist burning in him and his most commercially successful 1980s were paradoxically the least interesting in his eyes because, as he himself admitted, he was stagnant at the time. The urge to try new things, to break free from the security of a comfortable golden cage, this is what drives artists forward. Art must hurt, and Bowie knew it. (2023.03.25)

Asshole me sat in the middle of the row, so I felt stupid getting up and walking away during the obscene runtime of this onanist depravity and disturbed the fans sitting around, who were probably enjoying it much more than I was. And sleeping was out of the question because it was really loud. Sad emoji. Anyway, the lesson is clear, don't go to documentary films about artists who don't impress me. (56th KVIFF) (2022.07.10)

This music documentary with a wonderful sound mix for cinemas provides a magnificent audio-visual concentrate of Bowie as an icon, personality, star and artist. Hardcore fans must go to see this with the knowledge that will only remember and enjoy the object of their passion on the big screen, because the film will give them little new that they don’t already know. Conversely, I can say from my own position that the ideal audience is those who don’t know a lot about Bowie and know a few of his songs. For them, Moonage Daydream will be an intense extract of all of the emotions his fans experienced with the master. Like a trip through the decades, transformations and constant evolution and maturation of perfection, this expressive scrapbook is utterly impressive in and of itself and as a representation of everything that Bowie was. (2022.09.15)

The phrase "music documentary" is completely misleading in this case. Moonage Daydream is more of an audiovisual mosaic portrait and experiential film using very (but really VERY) free form to tell the story of David Bowie. In other words, either you successfully put yourself into it and have an esoteric experience, or you’ll simply sleep through it. And this, along with the slightly overlong runtime, may be a big stumbling block for many viewers. Anyway, I have to add that the remastered footage is really stunning. [KVIFF 2022] (2022.07.16)

The ideal conception of a documentary about someone who, even in his own words, has no identity of his own but instead one pieced together from dozens, even hundreds, of outside influences. While the film lacks the depth suggested by its running time, I also realized that this is not just a film about David Bowie, but also about Trent Reznor, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, or Mayhem. I don't agree with the oft-cited opinion that this is not a biographical documentary – this is exactly what I think an artist's biography should look like. It only spoils the cinema experience for some people (ahem ahem) when the lights come on in the auditorium and people start pointing at you "Hey, Bowie’s sitting right there!" That's not the point, morons! (2022.09.20)