CINEMA | A Bowie Trip – 'Moonage Daydream' Believer x TIFF 2022

"Chaos is meaning in our lives."

Toronto International Film Festival

Documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen assembles legendary rock star David Bowie's deep archive of filmed material including rare, previously unseen footage into a singularly kaleidoscopic musical experience, Moonage Daydream. It's a sprawling, multi-sensory mediation on the many lives and unknowable personalities of the enigmatic artist and his legacy.

Morgen edits his documentary into essentially a 140-minute-long montage eschewing any new material or talking head interviews aside from a few previous television segments from early on in his fame. We almost exclusively only hear from Bowie himself. Everything looks and sounds great despite much of the film's footage originating from the 1960-70s.

There's almost no mention of Bowie's personal life or his actual identity (born David Robert Jones). Morgen focuses entirely on Bowie's different images with him even commenting on their artificialities from past interviews. This only adds to the late musician's aura and mystique through the sometimes trippy experience waxing philosophic.

Neon / Elevation Pictures

Morgen immersively focuses on the various Bowie personas seen mostly on stage told solely through his own voice and repurposed narration from other mediums. Much like the glam figure himself, this film is a composite of his creations and how they evolved with him over time.

Officially sanctioned by the Bowie estate, Morgen's unprecedented access to the superstar's vast archival of material (some five million assets) makes Moonage Daydream such a treasure trove of the chameleonic artist's previously unseen work ripe for new appreciation.

Moonage Daydream screened at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations program.


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