Directed by: Andrew Dominik
Distributed by: TBA
Written by Alexander Reams
87/100
Nick Cave has long been a spiritual musician, not in a religious way, but more in the way his voice contorts and the instrumentation he uses. Specifically in his forays into film scoring. My favorite example of this is in Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Cave, joined by bandmember Warren Ellis, crafts this ethereal, yet rustic score that shows Cave and Ellis’ range with music. In Dominik and Cave’s latest collaboration, Dominik turns his camera on Cave, exploring a musician without a stage, as with most films releasing right now, it was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, music tours were canceled, which left Cave nowhere to go except inside, and in that he made more music. While this might not sound like the most riveting documentary, it is. Dominik is the type of that filmmaker who doesn’t make a movie unless he has an extreme passion for the subject. That is clearer here than ever. You can tell the love he has for these two men by the way he frames each shot with such tenderness and care.
If you couldn’t tell already, I loved this film, it felt like a breath of fresh air. A film about celebrating art, and the music that is created in this is amazing, the songs have already been released, but their creation is mesmerizing to watch. The albums that are being made are Nick Cave & the Bad Seed’s 17th studio album “Ghosteen”, and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ first solo collaboration outside of their film work, “Carnage”. Albums from the same creator, but with an all-new sound. By the end of the film, I felt like I’d found a new comfort film, one that I can go to and be happy that it exists, that someone loves these artists enough to commit the time and effort to craft a film that is not just a serviceable, but a great representation of them as artists. I adored it and I implore you to seek it out.
“This Much I Know To Be True” Trailer
“This Much I Know To Be True” was screened as part of the 2022 edition of the SXSW Film Festival and will have a single day screening event on May 11th.
You can connect with Alexander on his social media profiles: Instagram, Letterboxd, and Twitter. Or see more of his work on his website.
