I had just finished reading "On Bowie" by Rob Sheffield, which was a touching a passionate tribute to the late singer. I thought that this documentary would be the perfect follow-up, providing a clear portrait of the man's life, art, and personality set against the social climate of the decades that saw his rise in popularity.
It absolutely wasn't. It was a directionless mess, with the sort of obnoxious narration and editing one might expect from a celebrity news program - phony, superficial, and without a clear vision or narrative driving it. You see the same pictures over and over again, the same interviews are sampled. It's an exercise in monotony.
You could easily complain about who wasn't interviewed for this documentary, but more egregious is the fact that the film couldn't even secure the rights to Bowie's music. Can you imagine a Jimi Hendrix movie that didn't feature his rendition of The Star Spangled Banner? Or a Prince movie where we don't hear "Kiss"?
And yet this movie references "Space Oddity" and "Fame" without a single note of these iconic songs. No clips of "The Man Who Fell To Earth", "Labyrinth", or any of his music videos. There is footage of his live performances with the audio removed because who wants to watch a movie about a singer and actually hear them sing?
This is a crass and tasteless movie that was clearly cobbled together after Bowie's death in an attempt to exploit his grieving fans. He deserved better. His fans deserve better.