20,000 Days On Earth - Film Review

This psychodrama aims to chronicle an imaginary day in the life of Nick Cave. So what does Nick get up to in a typical planetary rotation? Firstly, his famed work ethic takes centre stage as we follow him to his office, then studio, for the Push The Sky Away sessions (that being his most recent LP). He talks openly about his approach to work, the transformative power of live performance and the immortality of a song. Later he visits Warren Ellis for tea and eel and spins by the Nick Cave Archive.
However, the most revealing discourse takes place when Cave is paired with psychoanalyst Darian Leader and speaks candidly about his idyllic childhood in Australia. Further insights are provided by sequences in which he chauffeurs Kylie Minogue, Ray Winstone and Blixa Bargeld around Brighton: the claustrophobia makes for tantilising exchanges. By steering away from commonplace devices and settings Forsyth and Pollard succeed in demystifying (as much as possible) this most enigmatic of subjects.
The film won a Best Editing gong at Sundance; it is truly deserved. Having shot over 250 hours of footage they have cleverly created a “faction” that maintains the myth and unmasks the icon. The ultimate truth of 20,000 Days On Earth? Behind the mask of Nick Cave the Rock Star? Is Nick Cave the Rock Star. He has become the character he set out to create as a teenager. In his own words ‘the mask has calcified’. The man is the myth.