One More Time With Feeling (3D)

Director: Andrew Dominik

It seems like I just blogged on a documentary about singer Nick Cave; 20,000 Days on Earth; Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard's excellent 2014 film, which blended fact and fiction. But having seen director Andrew Dominik's film; One More Time With Feeling, it's apparent one can never have too much of Nick Cave, whose music and personality seem endlessly fascinating. You might think the 3D in the title is a typo but it isn't. Dominik chose to film in 3D--an unusual visual approach to music-documentary film-making--but it's a bold and welcome artistic choice, as the film movingly demonstrates.

Dominik, director of the excellent The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford also chose to film in black and white, which seems entirely appropriate for a film on Nick Cave, whose dark, introspective music seems well-suited for a visual palette of hues. We see Cave with his collaborator Warren Ellis and band The Bad Seeds, as they record tracks for an album in a studio.

Cave's moody music; truthfully unsentimental, shares space with voice-over readings of his lyrics, which are no less somber than his visceral, offbeat melodies. Though we see him often in the studio, with technicians, band-members and musicians scattered about, Dominik also takes the time to interview Cave outside the studio.

Though the film is mostly documentary, Dominik deliberately dissolves the wall between objective reality and fiction as we see him orchestrating Cave's actions in a few scenes. A post-credits message alerts the audience to Dominik's creative deception.

The decision to use 3D is very odd. I didn't expect to be handed 3D glasses prior to entry to the theater but like most movies in this visual format, you cease to notice it after a few minutes. One exception is a scene where a musician's violin bow seems to exit the screen; a moment where the extra dimension was very conspicuous.

More interesting was the black and white, which created striking, visual textures. An instance of such takes place while Cave is at the piano. While he sings and plays, the camera is situated in front of the piano, where it lovingly captures its highly reflective surface, The highly polished surface looks as though it were coated in many layers of lacquer, which looks great in black and white.

But beautiful cinematography aside, Cave's words and music are the real draw. We often hear his poetic renderings of his lyrics, spoken in voice-over. But we also hear his voice-over at other moments, such as a session at the piano, where his voice seems ill-prepared for the demands of a song. While he struggles to find the notes, we hear him reproach himself in voice-over for not being ready, as if we were inside his head.

As the film moves along, what slowly emerges is the sad and tragic fact of his son Arthur's death; a terrible loss he and his wife learn to cope with. Dominik is able to coax Cave into speaking candidly about his son's passing and the painful process of recovery. Not one to resort to comforting platitudes, Cave's thoughts are those of someone looking for an explanation; something to make his grief comprehensible.

Cave is also forthright about his music. Though a casual listener might find the raw emotion in Cave's songs to be alienating, he insists his aim is to connect with listeners.

By the film's end, one is left feeling sadly reflective but also something akin to a lovely, opiate-stupor. One More Time With Feeling is a perfect collaboration of beautiful images and powerful music. Dominik's camera manages to make the spatially-limited studio seem expansive and maze-like, as if its secrets were never-ending. We get terrific over-head shots and ones that circle; allowing us to sometimes see Dominik's tricks, such as the camera-track that forms a ring around Cave's piano.

This is not your standard music documentary but something more ambitious and transformative. I left the film feeling both elated but also somber, which might seem highly improbable to someone who hasn't seen Dominik's documentary. This is a film for Nick Cave fans and the uninitiated alike, who will both find the music poignant and the visuals stunning. 3D or 2D, the film's power can be easily articulated, no matter the format.