Moonage Daydream – Film Review
by Killian Laher

Director – Brett Morgen
Writer – Brett Morgen
Star – David Bowie(archive footage)

More than six years after David Bowie’s death, Brett Morgen’s documentary, which he began working on 15 years ago, finally emerges.  If it’s a straightforward linear documentary about the man and his life you’re looking for, this is not it.  There’s not much straightforward about Bowie!   Instead, Morgen invites the viewers to experience David Bowie and his music through a series of images, clips, interviews, occasional voiceovers from David Bowie, and most of all, the music, which is the main star of the film.

There is a great breadth of material covered here, from the Ziggy Stardust film, through the Cracked Actor/Man Who Fell To Earth period before settling into his 80s mainstream period, drawing on the Serious Moonlight and Glass Spider films before moving on to his retreat from the mainstream in the 90s and beyond, briefly mentioning his marriage to Iman.  The film is disorienting, overwhelming at times, and at other times quite clever.  Pedants will point to various periods of Bowie’s musical career which aren’t covered, such as Tin Machine, but with such a wealth of material, it would have taken many more hours to cover everything.

Is it the best music documentary on David Bowie?  Not necessarily, but it does what a good music documentary should do: it makes you want to go and listen to the music.