Depeche Mode: M (2025) - 6/10

On the Memento Mori tour, Depeche Mode played 3 nights in Mexico City… and recorded it. This is very much a traditional tour film. Live footage spliced with choppy stock footage, that leans hard into interspersed reflections on death. It’s nicely done, as you’d expect. I saw this tour in the UK and it was a spectacular set. So it’s no surprise that this has such high production values. The crowd that night though wasn’t as adoring as Mexico City. With its own fascination with death and the macabre, they’re the perfect marriage. This was an emotional tour, the first without the departed Fletch and it’s clear that Gahan in particular needs this kind of crowd response, he feeds off it, all the more so as he slips into a stately vampiric guise. The live and post crews have clearly had some fun, there’s some lovely shots hidden alongside the standard stuff you’d expect. It’s a varied fan pleasing set, one created for this film. It doesn’t follow what happened on the night(s), although it’s close in places. I’m not sure this is the band at their darkest, there have been some particularly bleak years. This is more a celebration of reflection and there’s some powerful moments. The entire crowd holding copies of Fletches face during ‘World in My Eyes’ being particularly momentous. Although I’m a massive music fan and film fan, I’m not always sold on concert films. If you want to see a band live, see them live. They don’t really work that well as films. It’s nice to see the footage though. I’m not sure I’d have sought this out, were it not easily accessible on Netflix, but I’m glad I did. If you’re not a Depeche Mode fan, don’t bother. This is for the fans.

6/10