Moonage Daydream

“Make me know you really care/Make me jump into the air.” So goes David Bowie’s titular song, off the seminal Ziggy Stardust album - and Brett Morgen’s new documentary-fantasia about the singer looks set to do just that.

Because this is no normal biopic. Fittingly, as Bowie was an artist so keen to create new personas and unique ways of self-expression, Morgen has made a film that invests dazzlingly in the superficial. Though sanctioned by his estate, the film never feels restricted to covering biographical details - rather, existing footage (some newly discovered) is combined montage-style into an experience of Bowie’s creative journey, as opposed to a mere depiction. There are concerts as well as interviews, so that Morgen can focus on the facets of the singer’s cultural iconography. Blessed with such a rich subject - who dabbled in film and visual art as well as pop music - Moonage Daydream achieves the high-wire act of living up to his legacy, and trippily breathing new life into his songs. Surely a work of mad imagination like this is the only way to sum him up on screen.

Max King