Critic Reviews

It’s simply executed but undeniably powerful in its lean, stripped back elegance.

This remarkable performance documentary may be for the Nick Cave-curious exclusively, but for them (us) it is close to essential.

A rather fun Nick Cave movie might not have been on your 2022 bingo card, but here we are.

The accumulating effect of this airy and resonant film’s formal devices is that of a heartbroken artist learning to reengage with society.

This Much I Know to Be True is masterfully directed, an example of when a filmmaker and a musician are working in unison creatively instead of just going through the motions.

This Much I Know to Be True mostly offers the simple pleasures of good songwriting, performed by charismatic singers, captured elegantly onscreen. And that’s not nothing! However, come the one-hour mark, Dominik does work in more interview footage, revealing a film in many ways structured as a response to its predecessor.

Perhaps more than anything, the doc celebrates the remarkable creative union between Cave and his chief collaborator and bandmate Warren Ellis.

The atmosphere is stripped down and austere, allowing the songs to speak for themselves as they transport us from this world to the next.

At the core of This Much I Know To Be True are sumptuously-shot performances of choice tracks from the Bad Seeds’ ethereal ‘Ghosteen’ and Cave & Ellis’ lockdown revelation record ‘Carnage’, all filmed in breathtaking arthouse style in an abandoned factory in Bristol.

Musically sublime, gracefully directed, and filled with an inspiring optimism that couldn’t be more timely, this is another first-class exercise in capturing music on film from Dominik, Cave and Ellis.