Bowie lived a life of glitz and glam, nobody's going to deny that. From Ziggy Stardust to Halloween Jack and everything in between Bowie was never afraid to be overtly theatrical.
So, for a theatrical production based around Bowie's life and legacy, to have to walk out saying this movie was TOO theatrical, leaning too heavy on its glitz and glam, is really a powerful statement on the finished product.
There are some positives to this viewing experience. The visuals are rather striking and, as another user stated previously, serves as a sensory overload. There are countless instances of Bowie performing live on stage which will appeal to any Bowie fan. And, of course, remastered interview footage. The vast majority of that footage has been made available on YouTube, leaving little that had been lost to time, but many of these interviews are remastered in such a way that it's aesthetically pleasing to behold.
The flaws in this film set in rather quickly as well, however. The first is its length; taking out the unnecessary fluff would reduce this film to, perhaps, 72 minutes, which would be much more comfortable. The idea of narrating the film with archival Bowie footage is a good one, in theory, but this idea begins to fall apart in the context of the film. There's no narrative direction; there's nothing to connect one element to another. From start to finish, you're simply watching a series of events happening that Bowie, conveniently enough, was involved in. Accompanying this is a series of seemingly random film and stock footage interspersed throughout. A longtime Bowie fan will pick up on these references, but the average fan will find nothing but confusion there.
Watching this film, it's hard to differentiate if you're watching a David Bowie film or a Pink Floyd one. This creates a huge issue when you're dealing with someone as consistently interesting and unique as Bowie was.
While it's a wonderful thing for the estate to finally sanction and support a film on his life and work, this is the entirely wrong way to go about it, in my opinion. This feels more like a cash grab than anything else.
So, for a theatrical production based around Bowie's life and legacy, to have to walk out saying this movie was TOO theatrical, leaning too heavy on its glitz and glam, is really a powerful statement on the finished product.
There are some positives to this viewing experience. The visuals are rather striking and, as another user stated previously, serves as a sensory overload. There are countless instances of Bowie performing live on stage which will appeal to any Bowie fan. And, of course, remastered interview footage. The vast majority of that footage has been made available on YouTube, leaving little that had been lost to time, but many of these interviews are remastered in such a way that it's aesthetically pleasing to behold.
The flaws in this film set in rather quickly as well, however. The first is its length; taking out the unnecessary fluff would reduce this film to, perhaps, 72 minutes, which would be much more comfortable. The idea of narrating the film with archival Bowie footage is a good one, in theory, but this idea begins to fall apart in the context of the film. There's no narrative direction; there's nothing to connect one element to another. From start to finish, you're simply watching a series of events happening that Bowie, conveniently enough, was involved in. Accompanying this is a series of seemingly random film and stock footage interspersed throughout. A longtime Bowie fan will pick up on these references, but the average fan will find nothing but confusion there.
Watching this film, it's hard to differentiate if you're watching a David Bowie film or a Pink Floyd one. This creates a huge issue when you're dealing with someone as consistently interesting and unique as Bowie was.
While it's a wonderful thing for the estate to finally sanction and support a film on his life and work, this is the entirely wrong way to go about it, in my opinion. This feels more like a cash grab than anything else.