“Chaos and Fragmentation” were spaces that David Bowie said he felt “very comfortable” in creating, and they are also the principles on which he is built. moon dreaman ambitious documentary that opens this Friday that tries to capture his elusive genius.

Brett Morgen, a man dedicated to this cause, spent more than five years to complete this film, which was presented to the world at the last Cannes Film Festival, and was also shown at the 70th Cannes Film Festival. International Film Festival in San Sebastian.

According to official information, the director plunged into about five million articles, among which were never-before-seen drawings, notes, films and diaries, and spent four years only editing, a kind of editing that many will find incomprehensible. follow any pattern.

“Chaos and fragmentation is definitely my storyline,” Bowie outlines at one point the footage of this documentary, the title of which bears the name of one of his famous themes.

In another of these moments, he explains some of the curious methods he used to make the most of his creativity, always in the margins and away from the usual places, such as cutting out story lines to randomly combine them later in search of magic and unexpected connections. .. “Like Western Tarot,” he adds.

That “labyrinth structure” which, in his opinion, underlies the apparent temporal and spatial order of the world, is what Morgen pursues with his montage, a “kaleidoscope” in which there is no attachment to chronological accuracy, with constant advances and retreats.

As an endorsement, those in charge note that this was the first film fully supported by Bowie’s heirs, who gave access to the artist’s vast collection, although the bulk of its content consists primarily of all the interviews he gave to the media throughout its life. entire career.

In sum, the musician with a thousand faces reveals, for example, the reasons for his predilection for dressing up at the beginning of his career, when he introduced himself to the world as Ziggy Stardust, the White Duke and many others. characters.

And the fact is that the man who called Commander Tom from Earth into the vast expanses of space spent his life in constant search. “The main thing is the search; Believing that you have reached a point is discouraging,” he says in one of his most revealing comments about his nature and the nature of his work.

Everything is subtly tied together by juxtapositions on a flimsy personal basis: a mother with whom he does not understand and barely maintains a relationship, and an older brother whom he reveres, who becomes a falsifier of his atypical cultural upbringing and whom he loses due to illness. .

“Emotionally highly sensitive,” Moonage Daydream also touches on other key themes of his personal biography, such as his sexual ambiguity or presumptuous loneliness, to unleash an inexhaustible stream of projects until he meets the Iman model and begins a certain process of reconciliation with the world. .

It is also worth mentioning the opportunity to enjoy his music, not only classic studio recordings, but also atypical live performances in which Bowie shows all his charisma and whose sound, thanks to the work of his entire team (including Tony Visconti), has been remixed to enjoy the latest technologies, such as if he sang in the same projection room.

In short, “Moonage Daydream” delivers what its title promises: a lunar dream like a two-hour lysergic journey, not suitable for all viewers, but for those who are ready to see the world through Bowie’s chaotic and singular gaze.

Javier Herrero for Efe.