"Something happens onstage," Cave says, "where you forget who you are and become someone else." As much as any documentary can, 20,000 Days on Earth allows us to bear witness to what goes on in that process.

The title refers to the fact that the day chronicled is ostensibly Cave's 20,000th alive, though the movie is so slowly paced that 20,000 days seems more like the running time.

An intelligent and revealing look at one of rock's last true iconoclasts.

You don't just meet and learn about Nick Cave in "20,000 Days," you feel him.

Singular exercise in self-indulgence, introspection and tongue-in-cheekiness by the solemn and magnetic Cave.