Documentaries about musicians aren't exactly rare, but really, REALLY good documentaries don't come along very often. Summer Of Soul, Amy, Gimme Shelter, The Beatles: Get Back, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, 20 Feet From Stardom, Stop Making Sense... all absolute must-watches, even if you're not a fan - or even aware - of the musical artist at the centre of the story.
If you missed it when it arrived in cinemas last autumn, Moonage Daydream absolutely deserves to belong on that list, too. Directed by Academy Award-nominated Brett Morgen (Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, The Kid Stays in the Picture), the documentary tells the story of the life and music of David Bowie, using previously unreleased footage provided from Bowie's personal archives, and it is the first project to be officially sanctioned by the Bowie estate.
As such, Morgen was granted access to over five million items from throughout Bowie's life, including paintings, drawings, recordings, photographs, films, and journals.
While Moonage Daydream did decently at the box office for a documentary ($12.4 million worldwide), it is far more likely to find its wider, deserving audience now that it is available for home streaming. And with a critical score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, fans of the musical artist are sure to love it:
Time Out - "Whatever your favourite side to the limitlessly faceted David Bowie, this magnificently mind-bending film serves it up in a 140-minute career-spanning opus that races by in a snap of the fingers. It’s almost as extraordinary as the man himself."
Movie Nation - "An organised riot of images and sounds, Moonage Daydream is perhaps the only way a documentary biographer could approach the story of David Bowie. Brett Morgen has made his true masterpiece, the perfect film to celebrate a multifaceted life of aesthetic excess."
Consequence - "Moonage Daydream reveals a man who took a tremendous bite out of the apple of life — and millions of star-people won’t soon forget."
Moonage Daydream is available to watch on Netflix right now.
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