MOONAGE DAYDREAM (Cert 15, 135 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, available from December 2 on Amazon/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from December 5 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £26.99, Documentary/Musical)
IN 2015, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Brett Morgen released the documentary Cobain: Montage Of Heck dedicated to the charismatic Nirvana front man, featuring a dizzying array of never-seen-before home movies and music.
The director focuses posthumously on another fascinating figure in the music industry in the hallucinogenic cinematic experience Moonage Daydream.
Incorporating previously unseen concert footage, the film embarks on an audio-visual space odyssey in the company of David Bowie, tracing the rock star's rise to fame and his musical output over six decades.
Beginning with the track Hallo Spaceboy, the feature-length documentary allows the singer-songwriter to narrate his life with the full support of the Bowie estate in a kaleidoscope of retina-searing colour that draws boundless energy from Morgen's artistic ambition and bravura editing.
Likes its subject, Moonage Daydream refuses to politely or quietly adhere to convention, abandoning a linear chronology from the trippy opening frames and flitting between cinematic media to represent the breadth of Bowie's output across music, art and performance.
It's a relentless visual assault with a running time in excess of two hours, that would prove exhausting in the hands of another filmmaker.
Morgen's obvious affection for Bowie is intoxicating, combined with a frenetic filmmaking style that cuts rapidly between excerpts from dozens of provocative films such as A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey alongside the Bowie oeuvre.
The Man Who Fell to Earth, vampiric horror The Hunger and Labyrinth are present and correct.
Morgen boldly and defiantly declares war on our senses and we happily surrender. (DS)
Rating: 4/5
A SPY AMONG FRIENDS (6 episodes, streaming from December 8 exclusively on ITVX, Thriller)
ITVX, the free streaming platform which replaces ITV Hub as the online home of ITV programmes, launches this week with a host of new content including a star-studded espionage thriller based on the best-selling book by Ben Macintyre.
Created by Alexander Cary and starring Damian Lewis, Guy Pearce and Anna Maxwell Martin, A Spy Among Friends chronicles betrayal and subterfuge at the height of the Cold War.
The dramatic fulcrum is the relationship between British spies Nicholas Elliott (Lewis) and Kim Philby (Pearce).
Philby is exposed as a Soviet double agent, who has exploited his position to share top secret information with the enemy.
The deeply personal betrayal strikes a blow to his lifelong friendship with Elliott and initiates a forensic investigation of the inner workings of the British and American intelligence services.
