Sundance 2014: '20,000 Days On Earth' for Nick Cave as man & myth

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Actress Elisabeth Moss, with the film “The One I Love.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Melissa Benoist, from the film “Whiplash.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Michael Winterbottom, left, and actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, with the film “The Trip to Italy.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Steve Coogan, with the film “The Trip to Italy.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actors and co-directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, from the film “What We Do in the Shadows.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Musician Nick Cave, subject of the film “20,000 Days on Earth.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Sara Colangelo, with the film “Little Accidents.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Elizabeth Banks, Jacob Lofland and Boyd Holbrook, with the film “Little Accidents.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Boyd Holbrook, with the film “Little Accidents.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Elizabeth Banks, with the film “Little Accidents.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Jacob Lofland, with the film “Little Accidents.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Amy Carlson, from left, Matt Walsh, Meredith Hagner, Jason Ritter (front, arms open) director David Cross (hiding behind), Erinn Hayes, Jake Cherry and James Adomian, with the film “Hits.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Meredith Hagner, with the film “Hits.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Jason Ritter, with the film “Hits.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Erinn Hayes, with the film “Hits.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Amy Carlson, with the film “Hits.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor James Adomian, with the film “Hits.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Kate Barker-Froyland, actresses Mary Steenburgen and Anne Hathaway and composers Jonathan Price and Jenny Lewis, with the film, “Song One.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Matt Walsh, with the film “Hits.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Mary Steenburgen, with the film “Song One.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor and producer Mark Duplass, with the film “The One I Love.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Kurt Russell, with the documentary “The Battered Bastards of Baseball,” about his father, Neil Oliver “Bing” Russell. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Thomas Balmés, of the documentary “Happiness.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Brit Marling from the film “I Origins.,” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Chaz Ebert, left, and director Steve James with the documentary. “Life Itself,” about the late film critic Roger Ebert. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey from the film “I Origins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Lea Thompson with the film “Ping Pong Summer.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Michael Pitt with the film “I Origins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Bill Hader with the film “Skeleton Twins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Mike Cahill, director of the film “I Origins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Imogene Wolodarksy, left, director Maya Forbes, actress Ashley Aufderheide and actor Mark Ruffalo with the film “Infinitely Polar Bear.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari and actress Meron Getnet with the film “Difret.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Imogene Wolodarksy from the film “Infinitely Polar Bear.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Stephanie Ellis with the film “The Sleepwalker.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Pasquale Rotella of the documentary “Under the Electric Sky.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Catherine Keener with the film “War Story.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Desiree Akavan, left, and actress Rebecca Henderson with the film “Appropriate Behavior.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Steven Yueng with the film “I Origins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey from the film “I Origins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actors David Henry Gerson, left, and Kris Park with the short film “Chapel Perilous.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Halley Feiffer from the film “Appropriate Behavior.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Jenny Slate with the film “Obvious Child.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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John Shook, owner and chef of Los Angeles restaurant “Animal,” who created a pop-up “Animal” in Park City for Sundance. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Christopher Abbott with the film “The Sleepwalker.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Gillian Robespierre, left, and actress Jenny Slate with the film “Obvious Child.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Pasquale Rotella of the documentary “Under the Electric Sky.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Gitte Witt with the film “The Sleepwalker.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Arian Moayed with the film “Appropriate Behavior.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Directors Dan Cutforth and Jane Liptsitz of the documentary “Under the Electric Sky.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Erick Chavarria with the film “I’m A Mitzvah.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Mona Fastvold with the film “The Sleepwalker.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Aaron Paul, left, director Kat Candler and Josh Wiggins from the movie “Hellion.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Aaron Paul from the movie “Hellion.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Josh Wiggins from the movie “Hellion.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Jason Schwartzman, left, director Alex Ross Perry and Elizabeth Moss from the movie “Listen Up Phillip.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Jason Schwartzman from the movie “Listen Up Phillip.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Elizabeth Moss from the movie “Listen Up Phillip.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Josephine de La Baume from the movie “Listen Up Phillip.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Alex Ross Perry with the movie “Listen Up Phillip.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Jonathan Pryce from the movie “Listen Up Philip.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Malik Vitthal, left, John Boyega, Anika Noni Rose and Rotimi Akinosho from the movie “Imperial Dreams.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Jeff Preiss, left, Glenn Close, Elle Fanning, Flea and Amy-Jo Albany from the movie “Low Down.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Noah Silver from the movie “Jamie Marks Is Dead.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Glenn Close from the movie “Low Down.”

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Flea from the movie “Low Down.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Elle Fanning from the movie “Low Down.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Tim Daly from the movie “Low Down.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Greg Barker, left, Maryam Alkhawaja and John Battsek from the movie “We Are Giant.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Noah Silver, left, Madisen Beaty, director Carter Smith and Morgan Saylor from the movie “Jamie Marks is Dead.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Morgan Saylor from the movie “Jamie Marks is Dead.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Madisen Beaty from the movie “Jamie Marks is Dead.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Molly Shannon from the movie “Life After Beth.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Paul Reiser from the movie “Life After Beth.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Matthew Gray Gobler from the movie “Life After Beth.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Cheryl Hines from the movie “Life After Beth.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Dane DeHaan from the movie “Life After Beth.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Aubrey Plaza from the movie “Life After Beth.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Chris O’Dowd and Kelly Reilly from the movie “Calvary.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Chris O’Dowd from the movie “Calvary.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Kelly Reilly from the movie “Calvary.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Pierre Boulanger, left, Emily Browning, Hannah Murray and Olly Alexander from the movie “God Help the Girl.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Olly Alexander from the movie “God Help the Girl.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Emily Browning from the movie “God Help the Girl.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Pierre Boulanger from the movie “God Help the Girl.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Hannah Murray from the movie “God Help the Girl.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Paul Eenhoorn, left, Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens and Earl Lynn Nelson from the movie “Land Ho!” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Earl Lynn Nelson from the movie “Land Ho!” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Paul Eenhoorn from the movie “Land Ho!” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Rory Kennedy from the movie “Last Days in Vietnam.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Laurie David, left, Katie Couric and Stephanie Soechtig from the movie “Fed Up.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Brad Takei, left, and George Takei from the movie “To Be Takei.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Bill Hader, with “The Skeleton Twins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Craig Johnson, director of “The Skeleton Twins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Cast members and the director of “A Most Wanted Man” include, from left, Philip Seymour Hoffman, director Anton Corbijn, Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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From left, Jeremiah Bitsui, Sydney Freeland, Morningstar Angeline, and Carmen Moore with “Drunktown’s Finest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Zeresenay Bermane Mehari and Meron Getnet, with the film “Difret.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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From left: Fred Abahams, Ole Solvang holding baby Ari Anna Neistat-Solvang, Anna Neistat and directors Ross Dauffman and Katy Chevigny with “E-Team.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Marcello Conte, with “Ping Pong Summer.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Emmi Shockley, with “Ping Pong Summer.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Michael Tully, director of “Ping Pong Summer.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Andrew Rossi, director of “Ivory Tower.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Cast members and the director of “Love is Strange” include, from left, director Ira Sachs, John Lithgow, Marisa Tomei, Alfred Molina and Darren Burrows. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Mike Cahill, director of “I Origins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Brit Marling, with “I Origins.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Luis Moreno Ocampo, director Edet Belzberg and Amelia Green-Dove, with “Watchers of the Sky.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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From left, Kris Perry, Sandy Stier, Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami, with “The Case Against 8.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Maika Monroe, with the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Joey King, with the film “Wish I Was Here.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Pierce Gagnon, with the film “Wish I Was Here.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Josh Gad, with the film “Wish I Was Here.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Directors Maxim Pozdorovkin, left, and Tony Gerber, with the documentary “The Notorious Mr. Bout.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Cast members of the film “Wish I Was Here”, including, from left, Joey King, Zach Braff, Pierce Gagnon, Kate Hudson and Josh Gad. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Zach Braff and Kate Hudson, with the film “Wish I Was Here.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Eddy Moretti, chief creative officer of Vice and executive producer of “Fishing Without Nets” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Cast members of the film “Cold in July,” including from left, Don Johnson, Wyatt Russell, director Jim Mickle, Vinessa Shaw, Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Nick Damici. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Chloe Grace Moretz, from the film “Laggies.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Kaitlyn Dever, with the film “Laggies.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Sam Rockwell, with the film “Laggies.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Alex Gibney, director of the documentary “Finding Fela.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Lynn Shelton, director of the film “Laggies.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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From the film “Laggies” are, from left, cast members Sam Rockwell, Kaitlyn Dever amd Chloe Grace Moretz and director Lynn Shelton. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Dan Stevens, with the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Chase Williamson, with the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Adam Wingard, with the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Lance Reddick, with the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Sheila Kelley, of the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Lenny Abrahamson and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, from the film “Frank.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Writer Simon Barrett, of the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Brendan Meyer, with the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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From the film “The Guest” are, from left, Lance Reddick, Dan Stevens, Sheila Kelley, director Adam Wingard, Maika Monroe, Chase Williamson, Brendan Meyer and writer Simon Barrett. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Maika Monroe, with the film “The Guest.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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From the film “Frank” are, from left, actor Scoot McNairy, director Lenny Abrahamson and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Cutter Hodierne, center, with actors Abdikani Muktar, left, in white and Abubakr Mire, of the film “Fishing Without Nets.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Ashley Greene, with the film “Wish I Was Here.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, with the film “Frank.”

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Actor Scoot McNairy with the film “Frank.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Abdikani Muktar, from the film “Fishing Without Nets.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Vinessa Shaw of “Cold in July.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Sam Shepard and Vinessa Shaw appear in the thriller “Cold in July.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Don Johnson, part of the “Cold in July” cast. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Nick Damici, an actor in the thriller “Cold in July.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Greg Whiteley, director of “Mitt,” documenting Mitt Romney’s run for the presidency. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Michael C. Hall, a lead actor in “Cold in July.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Wyatt Russell, an actor in “Cold in July.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Jim Mickle, director of “Cold in July.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Cast of the movie “Camp X-Ray,” from left, Peter Sattler, Payman Maadi, Kristen Stewart and Lane Garrison. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Kristen Stewart from “Camp X-Ray.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Payman Maadi from the movie “Camp X-Ray.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Lane Garrison from the movie “Camp X-Ray.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Peter Sattler from the movie “Camp X-Ray.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Tom Bernard, left, and Michael Barker, co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Rose McGowan, with the film “Dawn.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Richard Ayoade, left, and Jesse Eisenberg, from the film “The Double.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Jesse Eisenberg, from the film “The Double.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Richard Ayoade, from the film “The Double.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Miles Teller, left, and Damien Chazelle, from the film “Whiplash.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Austin Stowell, from the film “Whiplash.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Cast of the film “Blue Ruin,” including Devin Ratray, left, Amy Hargreaves, Macon Blair and Eve Plumb. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Devin Ratray, from the film “Blue Ruin.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Amy Hargreaves, from the film “Blue Ruin.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Macon Blair, from the film “Blue Ruin.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Hong Khao, left, and actress Pei Pei Cheng, from the movie “Lilting.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Eve Plumb, from the film “Blue Ruin.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier, from the film “Blue Ruin.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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The cast of “Whiplash,” including Miles Teller, left, Melissa Benoist, Austin Stowell and Damien Chazelle. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Kate Flannery, from the film “Cooties.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Todd Miller, left, and sales agent Josh Braun, with the film “Dinosaur 13.” (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

By Mark Olsen

Jan. 24, 2014 6:15 PM PT

The film “20,000 Days On Earth” is that rare thing, a movie that is hard to classify. Even describing it is difficult to do.

Screening as part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance, it is a document of the recording of Nick Cave’s most recent album “Push the Sky Away,” an intimate look at his life, creative process and where his mind is at now, as well as a burnishment of his carefully crafted persona as lover man, wild man and man in touch with the darkest parts of human nature.

Directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, artists who have collaborated with Cave on his more recent music videos, the film finds Cave awakening in what appears to be the same room seen on the cover of “Push the Sky Away.” We see him visiting a psychoanalyst, driving a Jaguar to pick up actor Ray Winstone, former collaborator Blixa Bargeld and pop superstar Kylie Minogue, stopping by an archive of his own career, having some lunch with current collaborator Warren Ellis, doing some recording and performing a show.

PHOTOS: Sundance Film Festival 2014 | Photo booth

Cave, Pollard and Forsyth stopped by the Los Angeles Times photo and video studio in Park City this week to talk about the film, following its world premiere on Monday night. “20,000 Days On Earth” feels honest, strangely, even though much of what it depicts are scenarios constructed for the film itself.

“It felt more real to me than other things I see, things that I’ve read about me,” said Cave. “When I read journalistic pieces about my life and those magazines that have parts of an interview and a larger story, I don’t recognize myself in those at all.

“What is true about celebrity or whatever I’m supposed to be, a rock star or whatever, is the idea of transforming into something,” he added, “something which I guess on some level becomes a truth, becomes a real thing. So that seems to be what the film’s about on some level.”

The conversations Cave has in the film, with the analyst, Ellis and the passengers in his car, were unscripted, so that when Cave and Bargeld discuss why Bargeld left Cave’s band it’s a real conversation. But the places and scenarios in which they occur are fictitious – Cave isn’t even driving his own car, he is quick to point out. And though a trove of Cave’s materials are kept in an official archive in Australia, those scenes in the film were shot on a set.

PHOTOS: Sundance Film Festival 2014 | The Scene

Forsyth and Pollard have referred to such films as Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same” and Jean-Luc Godard’s Rolling Stones film “One Plus One” (also known as “Sympathy for the Devil”), both of which mix scenes of musicians at work with fictional sequences. And the way in which “20,000 Days” manages to both explain and expand on the self-created mythology of Cave is also reminiscent of Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There,” a fictional feature drawn from the guises and personas of Bob Dylan.

“We never really thought of it in any way, if that makes sense,” said Forsyth of whether the film is a documentary or not. “When you’re making something you’re concerned with making it, and the kind of labels and boxes and the categories and the pigeonholes come after. It’s kind of a documentary I guess by some definition because it tells a story that is on some level true.”

“I guess it’s about a real person, and in that sense it’s a documentary,” said Pollard. “But I think for Iain and I, truth, and in particular reality, just feel like a reductive way of looking at stuff. It’s so much more interesting and expressive to let the imagination take over. And it’s actually Nick’s words in the film, to churn through the mill of the imagination.”

For someone with such a carefully cultivated personality and image – Cave arrived for an interview in a pinstripe suit with his shirt partially unbuttoned, with only a pair of royal blue leather gloves for winter wear – it is surprising that Cave has allowed Pollard and Forsyth the level of access to his materials and process that he did.

“I think what the film puts over is this idea of what a person actually is, you may start off with a persona, although I never felt I did that anyway, and in the end you are just this thing you’ve created. That’s the truth about you,” Cave said.

LIST OF SUNDANCE SELECTIONS: U.S. and World Cinema dramatic competition

“There’s a lovely scene in the film of me eating pizza with my kids, which should be a basic thing that a father does with his kids,” he added. “But there is also an element of the monstrous about that scene, there’s something about myself within that scene. There’s something that’s been created, an awkwardness about that scene, about the idea that you become something, as a celebrity, you become something you can never really go back to, whether you want to or not, to the natural, normal things that most people can experience.”

The film serves as both a fascinating journey through Cave’s current creative mind for fans and also as something of an introduction to his worldview for those not familiar with his work. There are also a few musical performances, including a dynamic in-studio reading of his song “Higgs Boson Blues” that differs from the final released version, as well as a performance of “Jubilee Street” from Australia’s Sydney Opera House that Forsyth and Pollard intercut with on-stage footage of Cave throughout his career.

So does Cave feel he has revealed his true, naked self in the film more than he has done before? Or does it simply open a door to another level of myth-making?

“I think that’s what the film is looking at, the idea that there is a real you, what is the real you?” asked Cave.

“But do you care?” interjected Pollard. “I want my rock stars to be mysterious and something else. I don’t want to know everything about them, I don’t want to kind of unwrap them just to find out that they’re the same as me.”

Also:

Sundance 2014: David Wain spoofs rom-coms in ‘They Came Together”

Sundance 2014: Schwartzman, Moss & the tough loves of ‘Listen Up Philip’

Sundance 2014: Gareth Evans’ ‘The Raid 2’ hits fest hard; new trailer released

Follow Mark Olsen on Twitter: @IndieFocus