Morgen on His New David Bowie Documentary

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director and producer. An overarching theme of balance between art and life permeates the latter half of the flm and with direct quotes such as “All people no matter who they are, all wish they’d appreciated life more,” one can’t help but feel that Moonage Daydream is as much about its creator as it is about its subject. “As much as this article will be more about you as it is about me,” retorts Morgen. He explains how important Bertolt Brecht was to him in exposing the machinations behind any work that claims to be nonfction. And with every work since his student flm, which went on to win an Academy Award, he strives to address the issue of subjectivity. “I think with Bowie, I had fnally reached in many ways my fnal challenge, which is just forget everything else,” he says, “and it’s just now the immersive component. Let’s just strip away all that other shit.” That was his entry point, “but then I had a heart attack and then I changed.” He pauses then continues, “And then not by my choice, but by circumstances, I started to receive all of this sort of guidance from Bowie and then the flm went that direction.” And while usually with the end of a flm, Morgen considers it the end of a chapter, in the way that he can no longer recite Nirvana lyrics, Moonage Daydream he insists, will stay with him. “This flm, more than anything that I will ever create, will guide me.”

Gimme Shelter (Courtesy of The Criterion Collection)

40 ALL-TIME BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES

Music documentaries tend to fall into two categories: ones that aim for some greater truth about a musician, movement, or scene and flms that hope to capture a notable performance or festival. And some try to do both. It’s hard to truly replicate the live music experience for cinema or home audiences, but the best performance flms not only make you feel like you were actually there on the night, but also give illuminating context to the event. Would the original Woodstock festival be so iconic without Michael Wadleigh’s documentary, released less than a year after the hippie event? Our writers watched or re-watched many of the most notable music docs and we came up with this list of the 40 all-time best. (Note: Most of our writers hadn’t yet seen the

acclaimed new David Bowie documentary, Moonage Daydream, at the time of putting this together, so it wasn’t eligible.) By Mark Redfern

1. Gimme Shelter (1970) To call Albert and David Maysles’ document of The Rolling Stones’ 1969 Altamont Free Concert a cautionary tale is somewhat beside the point. The frst part of the flm focuses on a relatively sedate Madison Square Garden date interspersed with efforts to get the one-day Altamont festival off the ground. The Stones’ attorney, Melvin Belli, is every bit the showman of Mick Jagger with his repeated insistence on using a speaker phone to conduct pre-show negotiations. But the fnal 45 minutes of Gimme Shelter are an absolute train wreck preserved to celluloid. From the Stones’ selected security detail of the not so chill California chapter of the Hells Angels to the total lack of a barrier between performer and audience, it’s a master-class in how not to hold an event. And the crowd shots are a truly harrowing carousel of the seven deadly sins set in motion that culminates in a homicide captured on flm. More a document of the shuttering of the decade of the ’60s than a concert flm, it is every bit an essential view fve decades down the line. (Gimme Shelter is available on Blu-ray and DVD via The Criterion Collection, www.criterion.com.) By Mark Moody

2. Stop Making Sense (1984) Certainly there were other concert flms before Stop Making Sense, but Jonathan Demme along with Talking Heads turned the concept on its head. In one sense because it’s not just a bunch of white dudes (though there are some) playing guitars interspersed with crowd shots, but also for Demme’s roving eye right up on the stage. The slow roll of a start with just David Byrne and his boombox is revelatory, but the fur fies best here as the band is supplemented with bona fde legends from earlier eras (Bernie Worrell (RIP) and Alex Weir to name a few). By Mark Moody

3. Dig! (2004) Ondi Timor’s controversial documentary, shot over seven years and compiled from over 2,500 hours of footage, ostensibly investigates what happens when art meets commerce on the U.S. indie music scene. It examines the unraveling friendship and subsequent bitter rivalry between The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Neither band cover themselves in glory as they become embroiled in petty ego-driven feuds. The Dandy Warhols sign to a major label, whilst The Brian Jonestown Massacre (fronted by Anton Newcombe) are constantly on the verge of implosion as they descend into a downward spiral of drug abuse punch ups and self-sabotage. Dig! manages to be gritty, shocking, tragic, and hilarious with some genuine This Is Spinal Tap moments as both bands seek rock ‘n’ roll immortality via very different paths. By Andy Von Pip

4. Let’s Get Lost (1988) Bruce Weber’s black & white flm on trumpeter/singer Chet Baker is one of the more poetic music documentaries and also one of the saddest ones. It chronicles the jazz legend in his late 50s in Los Angeles, including participating in a recording session with a pre-fame Chris Isaak taking part, while also examining his troubled life as a junkie and featuring interviews with his semi-estranged children. It’s such a stark contrast to see a young Baker, so striking in famous 1953 photos by William Claxton, compared to his weathered face after years of abusing drugs (in the flm he looks 20 years older than he actually was at the time). Most tragic of all, Baker died at only age 58 soon after flming was completed and Let’s Get Lost premiered at the 1988 Toronto Film Festival only four months after his death, making it a ftting epitaph to one of the titans of jazz. By Mark Redfern

5. The Sparks Brothers (2021) Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers is an extremely in-depth and orderly document of an underground American band (Sparks) that most of us know very little about. Noted primarily for their off the wall songs and theatrical productions (and maybe Ron’s mustache), brothers Ron and Russell Mael come off here as being disarmingly normal individuals content with what they have created over the course of a long career. Not your typical sex, drugs, and rock and roll documentary, which just adds to its already healthy level of charm. By Mark Moody

6. Don’t Look Back (1967), 7. The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005), 8. The Velvet Underground (2021), 9. The Last Waltz (1978), 10. Woodstock (1970), 11. Summer of Soul (…Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021), 12. The Clash: Westway to the World (2000), 13. Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage (2021), 14. The Filth and the Fury (2000), 15. Pulp: a Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets (2014), 16. Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991), 17. Meeting People Is Easy (1998), 18. Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (2006), 19. Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop (2003), 20. We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005), 21. Upside Down: The Creation Records Story (2010), 22. Amy (2015), 23. Blondie: One Way or Another (2006), 24. Monterey Pop (1968), 25. 20,000 Days On Earth (2014), 26. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco (2002), 27. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015), 28. Amazing Grace (2018), 29. 1991: The Year That Punk Broke (1992), 30. Rolling Thunder Revue (2019), 31. Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (2019), 32. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005), 33. The Punk Singer: A Film About Kathleen Hanna (2013), 34. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1973), 35. Buena Vista Social Club (1999), 36. Made in Sheffeld (2001), 37. The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), 38. Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988), 39. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009), 40. Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)