2016 Directed by Rob Alexander, Steve Read
The Godfather of electronic music is on a one-way trip to crack America, returning to the studio for the first time in nearly a decade. Android is a celebration of a music-making pioneer and the love story that helped him turn his life around.
USA
SXSW Film Festival
USA
I Am Electric
There’s a playful visual device employed at the beginning of the wonderfully honest, personal and vulnerable documentary ‘Gary Numan: Android In La La Land’ (directed by Steve Read and Rob Alexander, 2016) that whether deliberate or not is almost a visual metaphor for the renowned musician himself. Driving along an American highway we are seeing everything upside down, from an angle we never really see anything in, a completely different perspective to ours, yet familiar at the same time. That same initial confusion is similar to how Numan was received, particularly by the music press when he burst onto the scene in 1979. Having seemingly taken the Nicolas Roeg film starring David Bowie ‘The Man Who Fell To…
I loved Gary Numan back in the day. A man out of time since his 80s success, it's good to see him find a place in the here and now
Interesting to see the events that led to Gary’s reinvention. But I wish the film had provided more details around a lot of the major issues that were pivotal in that evolution, like his conflict with his parents and his Asperger’s diagnosis.
SO, this isn't a sequel to La La Land?
While not a huge fan, I did find this interesting. He comes across quite level headed and I adored his wife and kids. He clearly has a large fan base and despite the ups and downs it's great to see him continue his success.
As mentioned in other reviews of this film, I feel this is seriously lacking the neurodivergent aspect of Numan's life and career as an artist.
Randomly came across this on Kanopy, and as I'm a longtime fan I put this on to see what gaps in my knowledge I might fill in. This is probably not a good fit for someone not already familiar with his basic career, as it doesn't spend much time on his early albums that were so popular and instead focuses on the ups and downs from after his last hits and on up to a struggle to reinvent his career in the aughts and teens. The "present" narrative (around 2016) shows him moving with his family to L.A. and preparing what would become the album "Splinters," but there is discussion of various periods in his career.
There's a good mixture…
IMO the only truly valid music-based film released in 2016 and primarily set in Los Angeles. whatever the fuck ryan gosling & emma stone’s characters were called WISH they had the chemistry that gary & gemma numan do
Telekon is one of the greatest albums ever. this movie made me appreciate it and the man more.
Gary explaining to one of his daughters that he can't dance, but only "move in strange little jerks", was awesome.
There was something exuberant and difficult to explain about the first time I heard Gary Numan's "Cars." There was something about its wavy, repetitive synths and Numan's robotic vocals that drew me in and made me want to listen to the entire song even if 85% of it was just the same instrumentation. It wound up being the song of summer 2013 for my friends and I as we navigated the season before our final year of college. It also helped draw me into other great tunes by Numan, such as the haunting and melancholic "Down in the Park" and the modernist funk sound that is "We are Glass."
I fell off with Numan's current works, as he's transitioned more…
Revealing and, to be frank, bewildering that someone as iconic as Numan would need or want to do this. He seems to have matured nicely though and the eventually success of his new album felt deserved.
A tale of love and Asperger's, plus massive highs and lows, depression and re birth. Gary owes so much to his wife that I'm not sure he would have made it through without her. A gentle character, which this film captures with warmth and affection.
