More about: Nick CaveWarren Ellis

Nick Cave’s career is a total rarity. Moving from his origins as a heavy grungy golden child, writing about brutal murders and weird stories, his current stance in music is strange and sacred. Seemingly making whatever he wants in whatever form he wants to, in the new film This Much I Know To Be True, he summarises it perfectly, stating that he simply wants to see himself less as a musician and more as a person. Focussing on his long-running collaboration and friendship with Warren Ellis, their individual projects and hobbies, and their lives now, the film is a cinematically beautiful celebration of two albums, two weird years and life beyond grief.

While he doesn’t really mention grief, there is definitely a feeling that This Much I Know To Be True is a kind of part two of One More Time With Feeling. While the latter focussed on Skeleton Tree, shot in dark black and white and dealing directly with the loss of his son Arthur, the new film focusses on Ghosteen and Carnage, and in turn with how the experience continues to interact with his work. In each performance, beautifully filmed with atmospheric lighting and sound so crisp it's like the band are right next to you, the regularly still shots on Nick as he performs tracks like ‘Waiting For You’ and ‘Ghosteen Speaks’, the subject of loss in his lyricism becomes an unspoken presence in his film as in every other corner of his work. In full colour yet returning to the same place and people that feature in One More Time With Feeling, the parallels are subtle but there, seemingly becoming a portrait of how that same grief now sits in his life. Talking about his renewed sense of purpose as a person, a husband, a writer, a musician and even a ceramicist, the film isn’t sombre at all, but is deeply tender and subtly vulnerable.

But that isn’t to say it’s without humour. Directed by Andrew Dominik who has been a regular collaborator on Nick’s previous film projects and even dated his ex-girlfriend that inspired the song ‘Deanna’, there’s a clear ease within the team in the quick-fire film shot over only five days. Discussing their working relationship, Nick and Warren’s friendship becomes the protagonist as they both laugh about their opposing processes and the closeness that keeps them working together. Paired with exquisitely shot performances, the close-up look of the pair gives audiences that chance to see how it all works, secret hand signals, count ins and all. Seeing how their partnership creates such a flawless musical presence both on recordings and on stage is a treat for fans of the records.

While the film is predominantly made up of musical performance, something that could become tiresome to viewers that managed to go to the Carnage tour, the flashes of their lives were easily the best bits. Both Nick and Warren take on such mythic roles on stage, commanding their bands and audiences like cult leaders, so contrasting their performances with snippets of truly domestic life and their individual interests and work brought you in closer. As with everything Nick does separately, such as his Red Hand Files newsletter and personally curated Cave Stuff shop, and Warren with his recent book and work with Marianne Faithfull – moments that bring you closer to the people immediately make you love them more, making every word and every song infinitely more captivating.

With the interview clips and candid moments sparsely interwoven between performances from Ghosteen and Carnage, this film definitely has less of a story or a purpose than previous ones by the team. Subjects such as grief, age, collaboration and even covid pop up and flow out without going too deep into any, and it wouldn’t been nice to see more interaction between Nick, Warren and even Marianne Faithfull who appears for a brief moments. While it would be wrong to demand another deep dive into his trauma and grief, One More Time With Feeling had a clear story that would appeal far beyond Nick Cave fans, as an exploration into a feeling and how art interacts with tragedy. But This Much I Know To Be True is through and through a film for fans of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, for fans of Ghosteen and Carnage who maybe didn’t manage to catch the tour, and for people that love all the things, people and project that surround the two figures. So people such as me.

Taking the classic album concert film and elevating it into something sweet and tender and truly Nick Cave tinged with unexpected humour and unintimidating intelligence, This Much I Know To Be True a beautiful thing for fans to step closer to the artists after a period of separation, without demanding anything too revealing.

This Much I Know To Be True is released May 11 in select cinemas - book tickets at www.thismuchiknowtobetrue.com

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More about: Nick CaveWarren Ellis