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Misshapen_Steed on This Much I Know to Be True (A+)

This Much I Know to Be True
Review of
This Much I Know to Be True
Andrew Dominik
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Misshapen_Steed's grade
A+
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Review of This Much I Know to Be True by Misshapen_Steed

ByMisshapen_Steed Misshapen_SteedAugust 8, 2022Misshapen_Steed on movies. Leads the site in Music (35 graded) · 35 full reviews published

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This is simply one of the most beautiful pieces of visual media I've seen. The lighting, the camera work, the striking use of different aspect ratios, etc. The editing is remarkable, and the sound mixing is incredible. On a technical level, This Much I Know to Be True is an absolute spectacle to behold. Yet, the content of this concert film/music documentary is what elevates it to the masterstroke in cinema that it is.

These are some of the prettiest songs that Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have ever written and released, as well as some of the most fun. The performances of Hand of God and White Elephant are so fucking fun and stunning that it leaves me speechless with a shit-eating grin on my face.A protester kneels on the neck of a statue

The statue says "I can't breathe"

The protester says "Now you know how it feels"

And he kicks it into the seaAfter the self-indulgent semi-fantasy of 20,000 Days on Earth (2014), Dominik's One More Time with Feeling (2016) was a tragic and sobering capturing of the person that Nick Cave is. This Much I Know to Be True is similar in this respect, but it is a much more joyful and triumphant outing. Cave seems happy here. And This Much... is not only revealing of the person who Cave is at this point in his life, but it also pulls back the curtain on how he and Ellis create these songs, and as a musician who writes songs myself it was refreshing to see that these musical gems we get to hear are really just a few in an "ocean of bullshit". I also loved getting to see a copy of Nirvana's Nevermind in Warren Ellis' record collection. Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds brethren have always seemed a little intangible to me, and these Andrew Dominik films do a great job of bringing them and their art within reach.

This should be essential viewing for anybody who enjoys good, powerful music. My singular complaint with this film is that they did not play Shattered Ground, one of the most gorgeous songs I've heard in the last few years.

1. Spinning Song
2. Bright Horses
3. Ghosteen
4. Galleon Ship
5. Hollywood
6. Waiting for You
7. Ghosteen Speaks
8. Hand of God
9. White Elephant
10. Albuquerque
11. Lavender Fields
12. Balcony Man

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