Cannes Review: Brett Morgen’s David Bowie Documentary ‘Moonage Daydream’

deadline.com:

David Bowie unquestionably became a great rock star—the greatest ever, according to a tribute published by Rolling Stone after his death in 2016.

Yet, it comes closer to the truth to call Bowie a “rock star,” the quotation marks suggesting that what Bowie created was a persona of the rock god, in much the same way that Cary Grant manufactured the quintessential image of the glamorous “movie star.”This is not to take away from his genuine accomplishments as a singer, songwriter and musician—he couldn’t have forged such a compelling persona without those gifts.

Bowie’s real project was making art, and rock music and performance are best understood as just some of his modes of artistic expression.Brett Morgen’s documentary Moonage Daydream, which premiered in the Cannes Midnight Screenings section, does supreme justice to Bowie by presenting him above all as an artist intent on exploring not only popular music, but painting, video, writing, dance, and film and theater acting.

Morgen’s purpose isn’t for the audience to “learn” about Bowie so much as to experience him—to be pulled into the worlds and guises he created and to feel his creative and intellectual force.In 2017, a year after Bowie’s passing, his estate granted Morgen access to “over 5 million assets,” including “rare and never-before-seen drawings, recordings, films, and journals.” The director crafts those materials into a sonically and visually immersive piece of cinema, with a thundering soundtrack that literally shakes the seats (at least where I was sitting).