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Under normal circumstances, a middle-aged bloke running errands in rainy Brighton wouldn’t be an entirely promising subject for a documentary film. This particular 54-year-old, though, is a singer- songwriter who’s been responsible for some of the finest ballads of the last 30 years. Welcome, friends, to Nick Cave’s mid-life crisis.
‘20,000 Days on Earth’ – which is launched next week at the Barbican with a live set by Cave and guests – is the full-length debut by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, two video artists obsessed with the spectacle and process of rock music. After working with Cave on promo videos, short films and an audiobook, they persuaded him and his shiny boots to step in front of the camera. We witness the singer’s twenty-thousandth day on earth: psychoanalysis in the morning, lunch with his eccentric bandmate Warren Ellis, a visit to the archives, and home for ‘Scarface’ and a pizza with his twin sons.
It sounds like ‘The Osbournes’ for cool people, but this day-in-the-life is staged, scripted and beautifully shot, with intercut sequences of Cave and his band as they record their latest album ‘Push the Sky Away’. A gravelly voiceover by Cave tries to unpick his creative process, and ghosts – Kylie Minogue, Ray Winstone, and old collaborator Blixa Bargeld – surreally invade Nick’s Jag. So it’s a sly cocktail of fact and fiction, which hinges on Cave’s magnetic, smartly self-deprecating personality.
After a sold-out open-air premiere last month, the Barbican gala is the first chance to see ‘20,000 Days’ in the UK before it reaches cinemas on September 19. As well as the screening and a Q&A with the directors, there’ll be a special live performance by Cave himself, Ellis and former Bad Seed Barry Adamson. It sold out ages ago, naturally, but we have five pairs of tickets to give away. Followers of Saint Nick: Christmas has come early.