Closing Night Film
Director: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard | UK | Doc | 2013 | 95 mins
Film source: Drafthouse
Preceded by Québec Film Reception at 5:30
20,000 Days On Earth is a bold vision of one of music’s most mysterious and charismatic figures: Nick Cave. In their debut feature, directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard fuse drama and documentary by weaving a cinematically staged day in Cave’s life with never-before-seen vérité observation of his full creative cycle. The film delves into Cave’s artistic processes, unpicking the stuff that makes him tick. We meet those who have affected his life, personally and professionally, including hilarious moments shared with his regular collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, actor and friend Ray Winstone, and Kylie Minogue, whom Cave duetted with on his mainstream hit single “Where The Wild Roses Grow”. These voices from the past revisit Cave in daydream-like scenes as he sits behind the wheel driving through his adopted hometown of Brighton, England. Avowedly neither a music documentary nor a concert film, 20,000 Days on Earth still contains electrifying performances. We see a song grow from the tiniest of ideas sketched out in Cave’s office to a monstrous epic performed by the Bad Seeds on stage at Sydney Opera House. We also witness Cave open up to psychoanalyst Darian Leader as he discusses how his early years continue to inform his work, and later join him on a journey through his personal archive. This unique and uncategorisable film possesses the same frankness and wry humour that run through all of Cave’s work, and pushes the form into new territory, exploring universal themes and celebrating the transformative power of the creative spirit.