Lightroom
£25, £15 concs
It’s worth saying from the off that I don’t think there’s any perfect way for a brand new, big budget, one hour David Bowie film spectacular to pan out. He did so much stuff, that has been written about and discussed so exhaustively that almost anything you do with a new project will flirt with either cliché or perversity, especially with a relatively brief runtime.
The latest original work from dedicated immersive film house the Lightroom – directed by Mark Grimmer – is definitely not perfect. There are bits that had me rolling my eyes, especially the sections where cutesy animated cutouts of Bowie doing stuff like ‘reading important books’ or ‘hanging out in art galleries’ are used to illustrate recordings of his musings on the creative process. Bowie’s voiceover is, I’m sorry to say, not that thrilling. I get it: there is simply not enough time or space to bring in his many, many collaborators, so having archive audio of Bowie’s ponderings on his art and craft that roughly correspond to whatever area of his career the film is highlighting at the time makes sense.
Still, it’s not hyper-illuminating and feels like it all comes from the same era of his career (I’m guessing the ’90s/early ’00s). Video footage of a profoundly awkward 1975 interview with Russell Harty feels like it provides a much more interesting look at Bowie than his assured latter-day ponderings.It’s also worth saying that despite a vaguely chronological trajectory, you will almost certainly be very confused at what’s going on if you aren’t already reasonably familiar with Bowie’s life and times.
All these gripes out of the way, it’s important to stress that at its best, You’re Not Alone is phenomenal, using the Lightroom’s world-class digital projectors and sound system – and immaculate sound design from Gareth Fry – to absolutely mind-blowing effect. An intro that starts with a gigantic Bowie playing ‘Rebel, Rebel’ on his final tour before seamlessly segueing back through 30 years of performances of the song is just tremendous. His infamous look into the camera during the Top of the Pops performance of ‘Starman’ is electrifying at cinema scale.
There are some fairly deep cuts, including ‘Blackout’, ‘Jump They Say’ and ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’ that you imagine may have snuck in due to a dearth of great footage from pre-1978, but still speak of a deeper appreciation from the creative team. The sound is very loud and very clear, and probably much better than it would have actually been at most of the gigs – in one of the few quality pieces of older live footage, a 1973 ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide’ is borderline religious.
You could see an argument for simply stringing together a series of live clips and that being the whole hour, but the more trivial stuff does give the film an ebb and flow which offers context to the ‘big’ moments and make them all the more powerful when they do come around.
You’re Not Alone was never going to be perfect, although it could probably have been more perfect had they rethought the cheesy animation and droning voiceover. But at its considerable best, it’ll send chills down the spine of any Bowie fan.
