David Bowie: Finding Fame (2019) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Francis Whately

I was going to take this documentary about David Bowie's early years to task for ending just as David Bowie's career was taking off and starting to get interesting.   Then, I found Finding Fame is only one part of a retrospective of the late Bowie's life.   I hope the subsequent parts are more engrossing than this documentary which features a litany of talking heads gushing over Bowie songs which he probably had to be reminded he wrote.  

Finding Fame tracks Bowie's early years as a talented songwriter/singer who failed to make a dent in the UK charts with his eclectic songs.    They told stories, they broke ground, but they didn't inspire audiences to buy them.    Was David Bowie a little too ahead of his time?    Perhaps.   Each failure drove Bowie to write and record.   His childhood with a doting father and a cold, loveless mother is touched upon, which instilled in Bowie the desire to be noticed.   He would accomplish that through his music, with his first chart hit being 1969's Space Oddity.    Soon after, Bowie would forge a new identity as the Ziggy Stardust character, and by 1973 he would become a worldwide superstar.   His albums released in the 70's and 80's would only add to his immortal musical legacy. 

However, Finding Fame is a slog.   Too much time is spent on the tracks which all but the most hearty Bowie fans would have trouble recalling.    David Bowie was surely not an overnight success.   He worked hard at his craft and finally recorded a song which clicked with the public.    Until that point, we see his early managers, producers, girlfriends, boyfriends, and family members interviewed, with only former lover Lindsay Kemp daring to suggest that a music/mime act Bowie created was hogwash. 

I am normally fascinated by a singer/songwriter's creative process.  Finding Fame makes me pay dearly for that fascination, mostly because it is at the service of songs practically no one knows or cares about.  Finding Fame would've been better served if the early songs weren't dissected so thoroughly, but instead glossed over in a few minutes to give us a taste of Bowie's evolution as an artist before moving on to the more famous albums and singles.    Finding Fame is for hardcore David Bowie fans only, and even they may wind up losing patience.