David Bowie: Out
of This World
Director: Roxane Schlumberger
Year: 2021
Rating: 3.0
I have noticed some others reviewing a film about David Bowie. This
is not it. That one is Moonage Daydream which seems to be getting high ratings
while this is a one-hour dull plebeian effort to look at his life. The narrator
is earnest, worshipping and tiresome and has little to say of interest. To
their credit they do cover much of his life - good and bad - though superficially
as necessitated by time. And interviews with Bowie are always interesting.
I was introduced to Bowie as were probably many by a roommate in college
who played Ziggy Stardust about 20 hours a day. After a while I had to admit
that this strange androgynous singer was pretty damn good. My friend who
was an odd duck who did not fit in to college life in small town Pennsylvania
found himself drawn to Bowie as did many people who just did not fit in to
polite conventional society. This was an artist screaming out - be who you
want to be - don't let society and assholes tell you what you have to be.
His astonishing theatricality was both a statement to the world as well as
a hiding place. Bowie was able to get out there and perform as someone else
- he never felt comfortable performing as himself. He was putting on a show.
But to some degree his various personalities distracted from how musically
gifted he was. His music evolved constantly but it was always innovative
and interesting. Sometimes brilliant. You could drop a needle down anywhere
during his career and it would be very distinctive and often amazing. I withhold
judgement on his albums in the 1990s as I have never listened to them. But
from the Man who Sold the World in 1970 through to Let's Dance in 1983 they
are brilliant. Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans
and Let's Dance are among my favorite albums of all time. He had an incredible
gift for melody and musical layers and textures. Hunky Dory is just so good.
In one interview Bowie says there will never be a leader in music who set
the tone and style like there was in the 50's (Elvis), 60's (Beatles). Music
is now communal. The rock vocabulary is too well-known. No one has led the
way for years. Long ago I was crossing from Ireland to England on a ferry
and a storm hit us and the boat was rocking and rolling. I was petrified
and then I found on the jukebox Bowie’s song Five Years. And played it and
played it till my change ran out and by that time the storm had ebbed and
all was fine. There will never be another David Bowie for sure.
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlor
Drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine
Don't think you knew you were in this song
And it was cold and it rained, so I felt
like an actor
And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get
back there
Your face, your race, the way that you
talk
I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you
to walk
