20,000 Days on Earth - True/False Film Fest

20,000 Days on Earth

Singer-songwriter Nick Cave is a singular figure from the last 40 years of music, a feral rogue whose Old Testament–style psychodramas and murder ballads stir up salvation and damnation in equal measure. In this exquisite profile, his still-vital spirit is matched by two new directors hell-bent on reinvigorating the form. As Cave drives from real to imagined places, he is accompanied by ghostly passengers such as actor Ray Winstone and singer Kylie Minogue, who chat and then vanish as quickly as they arrived. An ongoing psychotherapy session brings out the singer’s down-to-earth side while more mythic scenes near the Brighton seashore and in a fantastical archive feed the Cave mythology. Throughout, we witness his meticulous wordsmithing (written longhand in volumes of journals), his tight collaboration with instrumentalist Warren Ellis, and, in a fitting climax, a cathartic performance that explains Cave’s power once and for all. (PS)
Director: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
Runtime: 1:35
In-person: co-directors Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
Fest Year: 2014
Singer-songwriter Nick Cave’s life is unpacked in this wildly creative re-imagining of the music doc.