Part concert film, part character portrait, Andrew Dominik’s This Much I Know To Be True is another glimpse into the life and world of musician Nick Cave. The Berlin Film Festival Berlinale Special documentary flits between interviews in his home to performances of the songs from his albums “Ghosteen” (with the Bad Seeds) and “Carnage” (with Warren Ellis).
The setting is a grand old building, and Dominik — who also shot the 2016 Cave doc One More Time With Feeling — frequently pulls back the curtain to show the filming process, whether it’s the dolly circling the singers on a track, or guest performer Marianne Faithfull demanding a touch-up before recording.
If you’re a fan of Cave’s music, there’s plenty to enjoy as he builds up from confessional piano lullabies to angry political high-energy rants. If you’re more intrigued about his character, then the real gems are elsewhere.
The film opens with Cave explaining matter-of-factly that he retrained as a ceramicist when the pandemic hit, aware that he could no longer make a living as a performing artist. Naturally, he excels at it, and talks us through a series of figurines tracing the journey of the “devil” through life. It’s an introduction to a talented man who is accustomed to dealing with his demons through art.
Cave’s frank, artistic responses to the tragic death of his son Arthur, in 2015, have been numerous. They include songs he performs here, as well as an online newsletter, The Red Hand Files, in which fans bare their souls and ask him philosophical questions. He reads heartbreaking notes from those who talk of hopelessness and suicide, explaining that he takes several days to think and respond to those he can, hopeful for a more considered and empathetic response. “I’m forced to think about these questions and not respond immediately,” he says. “When I do respond immediately… I don’t respond with the better part of my nature.”
It’s a telling methodology, and a later reply speaks volumes about his intellect and character. You are left with an image of a man who is inclined to see the darkness in life, but has found a way of coping — not just through art, but through reasoning, community and companionship.
His wife isn’t shown in the film, but his son Earl appears briefly on a video phone call. Cave’s friendship with Warren Ellis is the most documented relationship here — and also the funniest. He affectionately, and self-deprecatingly, suggests that a large part of their working time is frustrating, and that the highlights we hear are “just snippets in an ocean of bullshit.” An exaggeration, surely, but either way, the snippets here are all well worth seeing.