DUR: 2:20
DIRECTOR: Brett Morgen
From Cannes comes a thrillingly immersive, kaleidoscopic trip through the art and music of iconic shapeshifter David Bowie, featuring stunningly restored and never-before-seen footage.
A dizzying rush of sound and vision as out-of-this-world and fittingly unconventional as its subject, this breathtaking space oddity is the first documentary to be made in full cooperation with Bowie’s estate. Such unprecedented access has afforded filmmaker Brett Morgen (Cobain: Montage of Heck) the chance to dive into a vast archive of hitherto-unseen performances, recordings and images as well as Bowie’s artwork and journals.
Narrated, via archival audio, by Bowie himself, Moonage Daydream unfurls as both a linear journey and a free-associative mind-trip through a singular career, ricocheting from the familiar (clips from the final Ziggy Stardust performance in the 70s, restored to astonishing new life) to the thrillingly obscure (Bowie’s experimental videos and paintings, backstage footage, eerie ambient performances) via the kind of avant-garde collage that the star would have loved. Morgen keeps his electric eye trained on the images, while the music – remixed and produced by none other than Tony Visconti – veritably puts a ray-gun to your head.
“Eclectic, unashamedly maximalist, and variously philosophical … A thrilling way to present a man who defied the shackles of time.” – The Playlist