'Speed of Life': David Bowie-inspired love story pays tribute to the singer's iconic visions of the future
A new film inspired by rock icon David Bowie will be released early 2020, and just like the Starman himself, it appears to be a genuinely quirky time-space oddity.
The 76-minute-long 'Speed of Life', directed by Liz Manashil of Bread and Butter fame, has been unabashedly dedicated to the beloved pop-rock icon who passed away in 2016. The film's title itself is a homage to a classic David Bowie track, and the film explores themes of love, loss, relationships, time-travel, and decrepitude.
The movie centers around the lives of a young couple, June (a massive David Bowie fan) and Edward.
It is based on a timeline that begins sometime around David Bowie's untimely death in 2016. The couple clearly loves each other, but also engage in minor quibbles, as all young couples do.
However, in an interesting turn of events, the Blackstar superstar's death rips a literal wormhole in the fabric of space-time, which sucks the hapless Edward in, leaving June behind to fend for herself.
Fast forward 24 years later to 2040, where a now much-older June is shocked to find her Edward, who is now out of this inter-dimensional time portal, seemingly unchanged from his entry in 2016.
June has aged quite a bit though — chronologically and mentally — and is contemplating the dark reality of her upcoming 60th birthday, when she will be locked away along with the other senior citizens in her society.
Unwilling to accept her fate, June gets busy plotting her escape when Edward suddenly reappears, and drama ensues.
The ensemble cast struggles to understand the extreme 'ch-ch-changes' that have befallen them in this unique indie dramedy. June might have spent 24 years without Edward, but for Edward it has been just a few moments without her.
To quote a well-known David Bowie lyric, "time may change me, but I can't trace time" — and that concept seems to have been explored in-depth here by the stellar cast, along with all the humor and pathos that comes with growing old whilst holding on tight to the ones we love.
'Speed of Life' stars Ann Dowd, Ray Santiago, Vella Lovell, Sean Wright, with Allison Tolman and Jeff Perry. The film runs for an hour and 16 minutes and will not be rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. The film has been written and directed by Liz Manashil.
Giant Pictures will release 'Speed of Life' digitally early next year, on January 10 (Bowie's death anniversary) on Apple TV, Prime Video, Breaker, Vudu, Google Play, and local cable, amongst other viewing platforms. To view the trailer and other additional material, you can visit the official site of the 'Speed of Light' movie here.