User reviews

The premiere of 20,000 Days on Earth, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard's 2014 documentary about musician and author Nick Cave, was preceded by red carpet pizazz, and the irreverent film itself ended – beside the sea – with an optimistic message of boundless hope and creativity.

It's these memories that make Andrew Dominik's mesmeric new documentary even sadder. We're used to seeing the elegant, lyrical Cave effortlessly turning horror into romance. But here we see him slouched in a tracksuit top, unsure what to say or do to console his grieving wife, who clutches a painting that their son, Arthur, drew when he was five.

Our knowledge of the fate of Arthur Cave, who fell to his death last year aged 15, is assumed and it looms over the film like a literal shadow. Shot almost entirely in monochrome, the mood is mournful throughout, punctuated by the briefest levity, usually between Cave and Warren Ellis, his long-time collaborator.

The film makes few narrative concessions. There's no dramatic moment when the bad news comes through. No crash zooms on crying faces. Early on, Cave reflects on something Ellis has said: that past, present and future exist all at once. And this is how it feels in the final edit, as we never know which footage (if any) is from before the tragedy and which came after.

We are given no names in subtitles and the context is barely explained. It's not informative in the typical sense. This isn't a criticism but a fact. Rather than a charting of specific events, One More Time With Feeling is a document of mood and emotion. Punctuating this texture are studio recordings. The tracks from The Bad Seeds' new LP, Skeleton Tree, released the day after this one- off cinematic event, are universally downbeat: looping, suffocating, darkly ambient swirls and tragic piano descents. More than ever, the lyrics are aching and sometimes abstract. Cave is the master of effective verbal repetition; and, as he mentions at one point, no line is wasted. Dominik lets four or five tracks play out in full while his camera prowls the moody studio darkness. His direction is tasteful, atmospheric, and sensitive.

And necessarily so, because the feelings are raw. Cave talks unbearably movingly about the impossibility of softening his grief with lyrics. (I was reminded of Theodor Adorno's comment about how there can be no poetry after Auschwitz.) He's also coming to terms with the fact that the trauma cannot be escaped, such is its "elastic" grasp, always pulling the bereaved back. However eloquently Cave has sung or spoken about death and loss in the past, the situation here is obviously something profound and unique, and the aftermath is a maze of indefinable despair, beyond the best poet.

Watch with caution, for this is a difficult documentary which is not designed to console or comfort. It exists to draw you unsentimentally into the sombre rhythm of grief. Yet the fact that a perfectly calibrated and deeply moving work of art could come out of such a moment in an artist's life does, on some level, leave us with a kind of hope.

This is a hard movie to watch if you know what's going on. I knew of the tragedy and was glued to the screen from minute one, as it shows how Nick Cave, his family and his friends react to one of life's most difficult moments. It is a harrowing, depressing and emotional ride. But you have to know what's going on. My companion didn't and she had a totally different experience, especially in the first half, where it just seemed a boring aimless mess of a movie. And this is the film's fault as it doesn't contextualize anything and assumes you know what's going on. So for me and for Cave fans this is a must, but be warned, if you are not familiar with the man's tragedy it will be a dull, confusing and self indulgent experience.

I'm not really a Nick Cave fan. I really liked Where the Wild Roses Grow (the hit from 1995) and have heard some other stuff that's nice, but I don't think I've ever listened to a full Nick Cave album. My girlfriend dragged me to this movie, and I'm glad she did.

I had totally forgotten what happened (read about it in the news last year), so it was a little bit confusing when he/they talked about the trauma in the first half of the movie. But it was soon apparent that he had lost someone close to him, which made everything make sense.

It is a depressing documentary. But if you only want to see happy things, go watch the Police Academy series or some other uncomplicated movie. This documentary will make you think, and fear losing people close to you (especially if you're a parent). Also, I'm not a movie buff, and don't know all the terms. But the cinematic whatever-it's- called (position and movement of the camera) was great. The director really managed to capture what Nick said, tried to say, and didn't say. I saw the 2D version of the movie, I can imagine that some scenes would have had even more of an impact in 3D, but this was more than good enough.

Finally, the music was great. Nothing like the upbeat and funny Nick Cave-songs I've heard before, but still great. If I didn't have the album on Spotify already, this would have been my first Nick Cave album.

To call One More Time With Feeling a great achievement and leave it at that would be to ignore just how unique it is in a vast sea of documentaries. Instead of being about the death of Nick Cave's son and treating that as the primary subject, the film revolves around Nick Cave's creative process and in the meantime how his personal loss affected that process. There are a lot of philosophical ideas going around, so even though the premise and structure of the film is simple, it's a very weight film to experience. Andrew Dominik can create an atmosphere like no other (for an example, see The Assassination of Jesse James) and here he's able to so perfectly capture the kind of thoughtful ideas and imagery that are associated with Cave's internal process. This is a great one and not to be missed.

I'm sure the reviews for this film will vary depending on how one expects to view films in contrast to how one views life and that marriage between the two finds a rare audience - however, what is amazing about this film is also what is heart wrenching / bordering on horrific - the back story.

The cinema for many is the "first in line" method of entertainment. yes, you could be a 'fan' of the actor/actress/artist but when you go to the movies, you expect to be entertained or perhaps 'enlightened'. This film however in my over 50 years on this planet, does not fall into that category. In fact, this film is, if not one of a kind, falls in the handful of those that are. This comes as a connoisseur of films together with being a musician, fan, promoter and DJ who spun many a Nick Cave song and still does.

This film is harrowing. I almost in some form, put this up there with "Saving Private Ryan" for those who have been a part of Nick's music for decades while adding exponentially the weight of also having children and being an artist. When I watched this film debut in Sacramento a few weeks back, I knew the score. I read the stories of his son's death and I read the stories of his thoughts during the filming of this movie... how some parts were edited out due to their nature.... I feel leaving those in would of resulted in actually needing grief counselors in the isles ala "Saving Private Ryan"...

This film is NOT something you take a date to. Not something a 'Nick Cave Fan' would go see. You will be intrigued but slightly disappointed thinking you were supposed to see a film about being entertained. You will feel uncomfortable in thinking "Am I missing something?" (you are)... You may even fall asleep... This film is not for you which explains it's limited release.

This film was SUPPOSED to be an upbeat (in Nick Cave Fashion) documentary about the making of his latest album. It's turned into something much more than that. Something haunting... Something phantasmic... Something horrifying... Something beautiful...

As an artist, you can be faced with image or substance. I choose substance. Apparently Nick did too. Therapeutic? Perhaps... Life? And death...

3D is used here as an art form, a new experience for me. Also the black and white really adds to the vibe. We get to grieve with Nick about his son Arthur's death. We see him not as a rock star but as a human being dealing with loss. The songs used from his 16th album Skeleton Tree were just amazing. It feels like we're there in the recording studio with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Like we are a part of the music, and its brilliant.

I saw it in a packed cinema and everyone sat glued to their seats when the credits start rolling. It's that good.

Go see it in 3D while you still can. It will change you forever.

I watched this recently and was hugely moved by it. One of the best documentaries on one of the finest artists of the last ten years.

It works brilliantly as a companion piece to the earlier Nick Cave documentary; 20000 days on earth, an equally visceral and beautifully crafted film. Why isn't this man awarded the accolades he so rightfully deserves.

Moving, gripping and artful. Highly reccomended and essential viewing for anyone who has the slightest interest in music docs, or the process of creation.

I came late to Nick Cave, but the premise of this documentary piqued my interest soon after its release. Owing to the restriction of the initial 'one night only' showing, I wasn't able to catch it until now.

Having watched it on DVD, I can now honestly say I am glad I have done so. Nick Cave is a very interesting man, and he demands a certain respect which is evident in the way this documentary has been made.

The use of black and white cinematography is jarring at first, but it soon becomes apparent that this is the only way it could be.

The documentary feels intimate, but manages not to be voyeuristic - a triumph by Dominick and his team.

There is much here for the Cave fan, the casual viewer and the creative alike.

I wouldn't call myself a Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds fanboy, more like a passer-by who appreciates what he has heard of their works especially Cave and Warren Ellis's works providing film scores over recent years, so perhaps One More Time with Feeling doesn't mean as much to me as it would to long serving fans that have been with the band since their inception.

This music documentary that centres almost entirely around Cave in the recording studio working on the Skeleton Tree album is directed by Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik and the Chopper and Assassination of Jesse James overcomes the disappointing reception of his last feature film Killing Them Softly to deliver a beautifully captured documentation of the album making process that also happens to touch upon the tragic loss of Cave's son Arthur that turned his world upside down.

There's nothing typical about Cave the musician and Cave the human and Dominik's film follows the mantra to a tee with Cave allowed to provide rambling voice overs and deep life pondering monologues on camera to fill in blanks but it would've been more effective for a watcher like myself had Dominik and Cave himself toned down the ponderous to instead talk more to the everyman as much of the diatribe or deep musings end up becoming a little too much to bare.

One thing that never gets hard to bare however is Dominik's directing style (unfortunately the version of the film I watched wasn't in the intended 3-D format) and the filmmaker uses his cinematic senses to great effect as the camera invades and wanders the recording studio. There is also little denying the power of some of Cave and his bands work here with members like the majestical Warren Ellis combining with Cave to deliver some heart-wrenching and soul searching songs born out of unimaginable loss and if nothing else, these musical moments make One More Time with Feeling worth the price of admission.

Final Say –

An absolute must for fans of Cave and his music, this anything but a by the numbers music doco is an intimate look into the bands creative sensibilities and a sometimes touching portrait of a man touched by grief. If however there was a little less airplay given to various and overlong ramblings, One More Time with Feeling would've been a film for everyone, not just those willing to nod in approval to every little word Cave speaks.

3 forgotten piano chords out of 5

Nick Cave reflects on the challenges of making new songs with age and tauma nit giving space to imagination; he ponders the natire of his music and why writes songs. The creative process is shown by introducig us to the team, Warren particularly and through several cool performances. Nice doc.

I enjoyed his shows before, but was neither funny nor insightful in this special. A huge swing and a miss. With the exception of the gun riff, she relied on old material focused mainly on her smelly body parts. Maybe that is why none of the big premier pay channels picked up this special. will have to do better in the future choosing streaming material.

Don't get me wrong I was willing, urging this film to be magnificent. But will as I did, it isn't.

In fact it's like the ultimate home movie utilising the finest cinematographers money can buy (Benoit Debie and Alwin H Kuchler - I suspect one was on 2D duty, one on 3D - I saw it in 2D).

The back story is important here. The documentary was commissioned to film the making of Cave's brilliant new album, Skeleton Tree, (I know it's brilliant because it was played in full on its release 11 hours ago on the BBC 6 Music Mary Anne Hobbs Show). What nobody predicted was that it would become a film about grief because, as I understand the timing, no sooner had filming started than Cave's 15 year old son, Arthur, died in a climbing accident. The chronology of this is not clear in the film's narrative.

When I read of Arthur's death I was devastated for Nick Cave (I truly love the man) and so I expected the film to be an emotional roller coaster.

It isn't.

Instead what we get is a strung out self indulgence piece. And I don't mean Nick Cave's self indulgence, I mean Andrew Dominik's. (Director of Cave-soundtracked, and awesome, movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.)

It is sumptuously photographed and of course the music is stellar but the glue that binds it, the storyline, is fragmented, dull and seemingly endless. OK, I accept Cave is a private man and he doesn't want to spill his grief out on camera, his wife too, but when he describes breaking down in the arms of a virtual stranger on the High Street in Brighton we get a glimpse of what he is going through.

But that's it.

My companion fell asleep several times. Thanks partly to the heat in The Filmhouse, Edinburgh where we saw this. Extremely uncomfortable. Did they not know they had a sell out audience?

I don't like being negative about a film of this nature but if Dominik had an Executive Producer with a firmer hand we might have seen a more pared down and rewarding experience.

If you want to see Nick Cave at his very best on film watch the far superior 20,000 Days on Earth, directed by Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth. It's magnificent.

Well, I watched this having seen its high rating on IMDb and as a Musician myself I have to say this is the most self indulgent and pretentious artist I have ever heard. I cant take anything away from the Music as this is creatively very accomplished, however the pretentious lyrics, and lyrics just randomly thrown into the mix, are truly awful. Obviously people seem to identify with these ill conceived ramblings, but I just feel he is taking everyone for a ride. Trying to dress it up with an Arty attempt by filming in Black and White is lame.I found the experience on the whole quite depressing.

Painfully ego driven dreck. Oh I feel for the artist who has been through hell, yadda, yadda, yadda. We've heard it all before.

It's bad enough that Tom Waits can squeeze another minute out of his schtick and now we have Cave doing his hip alternative and underground version of Waits' game. Or, at least it was "hip" 35 years ago. Jeez.

I'll wait for the action figures to come out. Until then, pass.