Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 20,000 Days on Earth (or, tons of bullsh!t)

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Topic: 20,000 Days on Earth (or, tons of bullsh!t)

Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 10-01-2014 11:42 AM

This documentary about 24 hours in the life of Nick Cave is playing a week-long engagement with shows every night here as part of a festival. As we've just done a major upgrade of the Egyptian's smaller house (new audio processor, room re-EQed), I stopped and looked at about half an hour of this yesterday, more to get a sense of how our revamped auditorium looked and sounded with an actual audience in it than out of any enthusiasm for the movie.

I simply don't get it. Or more accurately, there are two things I don't get. The first is how anyone could come to hold the belief that Nick Cave is Mozart, Orson Welles and Einstein rolled into one, probably invented a cure for cancer in his spare time, and generally the most inspirational person ever. The second is why the LA audience seems to be buying into this narcissism-fest, and selling the house out over and over again. It even packed out the Aero (425 seats, leafy Santa Monica, regular crowd white, middle class and average age around 60) on Sunday night, too.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Nick Cave. He was quite good in the (very underrated and an undeserved flop) Jesse James movie. But a 97-minute long feature that's basically worshiping at his feet?!

Technically it does have some real strengths - the 5.1 audio mix in the concert scenes is immersive without simply taking the approach that the more crowd noise you pump through the surrounds, the more "realistic" it'll sound to an uneducated listener, and some of the natural light, handheld 'scope shots offer an imaginative use of today's hi-def digital cameras without getting too Lars von Trier-ish.

But as for the subject matter? I still don't get it.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 10-02-2014 06:37 AM

I've seen him together with his band (the Bad Seeds) live a few years back and wasn't really impressed at all. He might have made a few hits that stuck and have somewhat lasted, but in general, this guy is totally overrated in my very humble opinion. Seeing about 100 minutes of egofest is not something I have on my shortlist.

Then again, I never liked those filmed ego-bios about bands and musicians, which seem to be in fashion the last few years [Wink]

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