Stylish Films: Moonage Daydream

Bowie. The prettiest Star of all, the brightest, boldest and best. The world has never really been the same since his light was extinguished in January 2016, just days after the release of what was to be his last album, Blackstar. But now he’s back, lighting up big screens in the gloriously weird and wonderful documentary film Moonage Daydream. If you are a fan of Bowie, this is absolutely not to be missed.

Written, directed, produced and edited by Brett Morgen, Moonage Daydream is an absolute labour of love. Taking it’s name from the Ziggy Stardust era song that had once been gifted to Arnold Corns, the group that Bowie dabbled with whilst waiting for the world to once again sit up and take notice, the film combines lots of incredible archive footage, newsreels, interviews. film clips, concert performances, all meshed together with elements that hark back to the idea that maybe David was an otherworldly starman after all.

It is clear that Brett Morgen is a fan, and, in particularly, a fan of Bowie before 1985, with much of the film dwelling on that incredible era of Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, The Thin White Duke, Serious Moonlight and Berlin. There are scenes from Cracked Actor that move seamlessly into The Man who fell to Earth, interviews with Russell Harty and film footage of the Ziggy tour. We also travel back in time to learn about David’s family, his mother, his father, his half brother Terry, who ended up in Cane Hill psychiatric hospital and was a key influence on young David, and the inspiration for ‘All the Madmen’.

The film is not only stunning to listen too, with a tracklist that is not always full of obvious choices (for instance, starting with Hello Spaceboy, his brilliant 90s collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys), but it also looks incredible, with lots of graphics merged with bright colours that somehow seem to be the colours of some distance planet, so apt for a career that was launched with Space Oddity, relaunched with Starman, and ended with Blackstar.

This is an incredible piece of cinema, one that must be watched on as big a screen as ever. It is an assault on your senses and a true tribute to the greatest chameleon of our time.

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