Brett Morgen's 'Moonage Daydream' Captures Bowie in all his Colourful Complexity

 

Brett Morgen's impressionistic documentary on rock legend David Bowie hits its' mark, capturing a complex human and diving deep into what motivated him.

"Never play to the gallery (laughs). But you never learn that until much later on, I think... I think it's terribly dangerous for an Artist to fulfill other people's expectations. I think they generally produce their worst work when they do that. The other thing I would say is that if you feel safe in the area you're working in, you're not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you're capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about at the right place to do something exciting." - David Bowie interview from the 1990s'

Director Brett Morgen's Moonage Daydream Paints David Bowie in broad strokes while revealing a warm, humane philosophy of life

Moonage Daydream, a film collage exploration of David Bowie's career, begins with cold space. Specifically the surface of the Moon and a crumpled, empty Astronaut's uniform with a smiley face on the chest plate. As this image fades out, there is a fade-in of Hallo Spaceboy. And just like that, we're plunged into the action.

Director Brett Morgen assumes his viewers are familiar with Bowie's signature achievements and outsize impact on popular culture. So in making the film, which has a rubber stamp from the Thin White Duke's estate, he goes for a splashy neon collage of a movie that explores major themes in the man's life and body of work. 

Narrated mostly by Bowie himself, Moonage Daydream covers well-known events in Bowie's life from approximately 1971 (Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars) through the early 1980s' (Let's Dance). His last album, 2016's Blackstar, and Bowie's death shortly after the album's release is barely touched on. 

Which is a good thing, in my opinion. By allowing Bowie to narrate the bulk of the picture his philosophy of life is explored - both the light and the dark. Alienation and Isolation - well-known Bowie themes - are covered here in his emotionally distant relationship with his parents. His family suffered from, "an awful lot of emotional-spiritual mutilation," in the Artist's words.

We also get to see him offer his own version of spirituality. There are surprisingly warm reflections about the importance of travel, being connected to other human beings, and the pure joy of a life filled with a large variety of experiences. 

I particularly identify with his desire to make every day count. The man hated wasting time. When answering a 'Proust Questionnaire' in 1998, to answer the question: "What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?," Bowie responded: "To have discovered the early morning." That time of day when it feels as if the world belongs to you, and you alone. 

Though I am familiar with his work, and own all of Bowie's albums, I was still surprised by the intellectual playfulness and flexibility he displayed. It's well articulated in the audio and video clips Morgen chose to use.

While overall an excellent ride, I do have two criticisms of Moonage Daydream. Firstly, the lack of context and chronological progression could be off putting for viewers who are not well versed in David Bowie's work and personas. (There was a lot of work - in addition to the albums, Bowie painted, acted on stage and film, sketched, and made sculptures in his spare time.) Watch for a clip of Bowie acting in a Broadway staging of The Elephant Man. Morgen uses it quite effectively - it's a very emotional moment. 

My second criticism is that, though they use clips from the music video again and again, we never hear The Heart's Filthy Lesson from 1995's superb Outside album. This song is my favourite David Bowie song. It addresses mortality and the danger of wasting time. 

In the best part Bowie sings, "Paddy will you carry me? I think I've lost my way. (Heart's Filthy Lesson, Heart's Filthy Lesson.) I'm already five years older, I'm already in my grave. I'm already." The song is more potent than ever with the News being filled with natural disasters of all shapes and sizes. 

He's telling us to get on with it. It's a message I've taken to heart.

So for all the Bowie-philes and longtime fans, go see Moonage Daydream. In IMAX, if possible. The sound is intense and wonderfully overwhelming at times. You will enjoy yourself. 

For people who have only a vague idea of the man's career and significance, best to take a pass on this one.

Loving the Alien: Remembering David Bowie (1947 - 2016)

David Bowie from one of the promotional stills shot for 1977's 'Heroes' album. There was always something extraterrestrial and freaky about The Man Who Fell to Earth. And it wasn't just his unequally-sized pupils.

"The song itself… is made up of juxtapositions and fragments of information. [It] doesn’t have a straightforward coherent message to it. None of the album has any message; it’s really a compression of information, it’s just information: make of it what you will... The filthy lesson in question is the fact that life is finite. That realization, when it comes, usually later in life, can either be a really daunting prospect or it makes things a lot clearer."

-David Bowie on the track The Heart's Filthy Lesson from a promotional film for Outside, 1995

Loving the Alien: Remembering David Bowie (1947 - 2016)

There was always something freaky about David Bowie, wasn't there? And I don't just mean his unequally sized pupils that were the result of a childhood fight. Looking at photographs of him from the 1970s you're struck by just how... unusual this man looks. Thin face, craggy British teeth, thinner lips, and then your attention returns to those eyes again.

David Bowie, musician, actor, painter, and well-rounded extraterrestrial being died just days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar. In a career that spanned several decades and enough different artistic influences and costume changes to make your head spin, Bowie took music lovers and his fellow Outsiders on a wild ride.

His music often addressed hard subjects that many people shy from in polite conversation. Alienation, isolation, spiritual pain, and struggling with inner demons — what the late William S. Burroughs once referred to as, "the Ugly Spirit."

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars from 1972 was the album that really jump started the man's career. Before Ziggy, with his vivid red hair and unforgettable costumes, Bowie had been a long-haired folk and rock n' roll singer not widely known.

Post-Ziggy almost any serious music lover in North America and Europe could name at least one song from the albums that followed. Heroes, the title track from the album of the same name, was recorded at Das Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin during Bowie's time in the city. The studio's location was right next to the Berlin Wall, which divided the city from 1961 to 1989. Bowie watched his longtime producer Tony Visconti and a backing vocalist making out beside the wall as Bowie looked out from one of the studio's windows; this served as the song's inspiration.

The half German version of the song Heroes / Helden has always been one of my favourite Bowie tracks. I discovered it as a teenager living in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Heroes' theme of lovers facing impossible odds has a power that's undeniable. It will remain one of Bowie's signature achievements.

In 2013 I had a chance to visit the David Bowie Is exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario. One of the pieces from the exhibit is Bowie's handwritten lyrics for Heroes. It was very moving to see the genuine article close enough to touch — separated from my hand by only the thinnest piece of Plexiglass.

Fast forward several years in the man's career to 1995's Outside concept album where Bowie played Nathan Adler, a detective out to solve a grisly art crime. My personal favourite song from that album is The Heart's Filthy Lesson. In the music video Bowie played up the idea of tribalism, body art, and a future where everyone belongs to his or her 'tribe.'

The 'Filthy Lesson' from the song, according to Bowie, is that our lives our finite: "I'm already 5 years older, I'm already in my grave, I'm already..."

David Bowie's career had too many highlights and songs that I love to mention in this short space. What impressed me most about the man is his continuing need to experiment and push the envelope artistically. He may have been singing to us as Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, or another character. Repeated listens reveal the truth was in the lie. He used pain we all feel, no matter what walk of life you're from, and turned it into timeless art.

Lazarus, the music video for the single from Bowie's final album Blackstar was released on January 7 — just days before his death from Cancer. In the video we see Bowie sing, "Look up here, I'm in Heaven." People who know this kind of trivia will remember Lazarus as someone rising from the dead.

Bowie is lying on a bed with white bandages wrapped around his head - jacket buttons for eyes. Near the end he bolts upright and sings, "Oh, I'll be free. Ain't that just like me?" Before falling back onto the pillow. He is smiling throughout this moment.

Lazarus was his goodbye note to us.

Sitting here, looking out my window at the snow drifts outside, I'll tell you this:

I will always Love the Alien. Thank you, David.

Rest in Peace.