Bowie – The Final Act – Film Review
by Killian Laher

Director – Jonathan Stiasny
Stars – David Bowie, Gary Kemp, Goldie

This film, billed as The Final Act of David Bowie’s life, would give you the impression that it’s mainly concerned with his last few years.  And yes, the emphasis is on this period, but the narrative switches back and forth with archival footage dating back to 1967.  The film opens with Bowie in his ‘imperial sell-out’ phase, singing Let’s Dance on the Serious Moonlight tour, complete with eighties suit and eighties blonde hairdo.  It traces his career from then on, occasionally dipping back to the late sixties and seventies, with the Ziggy Stardust period in particular being covered.  From then on, the film moves more or less chronologically through his life.  We get a considerable focus on the, at the time, ridiculed Tin Machine, complete with contributions from acerbic music journalists of the period.  The film moves through his jungle/drum-and-bass period on 1997’s Earthling, where he hung out with Goldie, before landing on his emotional headline performance at Glastonbury in 2000.

Post-heart attack, there is little revealed about the silent years (2004-2012), but plenty of interesting footage around his comeback in 2013 and his final album, Blackstar.  There’s a plethora of insightful contributors throughout the film – Tony Visconti, Reeves Gabrels, Moby, Dana Gillespie, Hanif Kureishi and the entertainingly out-there Earl Slick.

It’s not the definitive ‘David Bowie story’, but I don’t believe there can be one.  It’s a very worthwhile watch for anyone with half an interest in David Bowie, and let’s face it, the man was cool as fuck.