Moonage Daydream

A documentary about David Bowie. Its structure is not the usual one. There is no narrator, no experts, no chronology. The only person speaking is Bowie himself; all the voice comes from old interviews. The material comes from the archive. Concert recordings, studio footage, television programmes, pieces of his films and things he shot himself are placed together. The film does not tell a life. It follows a way of thinking instead: changing, dropping one identity and taking another, escaping whatever has settled. The sections are divided not by period but by question. Why is art made, what is fame for, what is loneliness, what does a person believe. The Berlin years are at the centre. Bowie leaving America and rebuilding himself in another city is given in detail. The sound design is the real work. The songs were remixed and folded into the speech; some passages resemble a sound experiment more than a concert film. It was the first documentary approved by the side managing Bowie's estate, and full access to the archive was given. Brett Morgen directed and worked at length on the editing and sound. Who it is for: anyone who listens to Bowie and likes experimental documentary. Who it is not for: anyone looking for information; the film does not give history, chronology or events, and keeps no critical distance.