Film Pick of the Week: Moonage Daydream - review by Yvette Huddleston

When the iconic musician and star died in 2016, it was one of those celebrity deaths that deeply affected many. You didn’t need to be a long-term adoring fan to feel a sense of loss – Bowie had been such a creative life-force for so many decades, an international superstar yet a very humble man whose humanity shone through in everything he did.

What Bowie did continuously throughout his life, and seemingly with consummate ease, was to re-invent himself. He was always a pioneer and whenever others started to catch up with him, he moved on to something else. Through archive footage, electrifying concert performances, some of which have never been seen before, and interviews with the man himself, Morgan slowly builds up a picture of Bowie as an artist and a human being.

But this is about as far from conventional biopic as it is possible to get – which of course is fitting for someone who defied expectations and convention his entire career. The jump-cut editing and psychedelic sequences with surround-sound music can become a little overwhelming at times, but Morgan is making a point – not always as subtly as he might have, but then it could be argued that this kind of approach is entirely appropriate when it comes to a celebration of Bowie’s life and career.

There is footage of the outrageously over-the-top characterisations, performances and costumes of the 1970s, with which most people are familiar, but also fascinating segments on areas of Bowie’s creative practice that might be less well-known – his experimental video art and paintings for a start and his film and theatre work. He was also a formidable intellect and was always polite, generous and candid with television interviewers such as Russell Harty, Dick Cavett, Valerie Singleton and Mavis Nicholson, all seen here.

The film doesn’t really focus much on Bowie’s personal life, although there is a touching section in which he talks about the positive influence that his older half-brother had on him – reference is also made to his tense relationship with his mother. What is most pleasing about the film is that there is no portentous voiceover, we get to hear about Bowie through Bowie’s own voice and words – and they were always worth listening to. Moonage Daydream is an energetic, frenetic elegy that manages to be celebratory and intimate at the same time.