“20,000 Days on Earth,” a highly-staged documentary that follows the quasi-fictional persona of the real musician Nick Cave through a day or so of  his various experiences, raises the question of whether legends are born or made. It seems that from the start, Nick Cave was convinced of the inevitability of his stardom, such as it is, and the fanatical interest of his fanbase that justifies pursuits like this documentary and accompanying Museum of Important Shit, which collects and curates fan-submitted ephemera characterized as, “Humble signifiers of huge significance.”

Within the action of the movie, Nick Cave pays a visit to what is presumably the stacks of this archive, to walk a team of unnamed researchers through an assemblage of objects that seem to indicate a lifelong self-obsession that threads the needle between monomania and reasonable interest in a man that, after all, has now become the subject of a documentary. It all gets very complicated.

Says Cave, on the subject of the film, “This day is both more real and less real, more true and less true, more interesting and less interesting than my actual day, depending on how you look at it.”

Nick Cave’s latest move in the creation of his own legendary status.

Screenings of “20,000 Days on Earth” were held at the Detroit Film Theatre on Friday, October 24th through Sunday, October 26th, and the film is running again this weekend, with shows in the late slots: 10 p.m. on Friday, October 31st; 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 1st; and a late matinee at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 2nd. Several more chances to catch the low-key, smoldering antics of this career musician with four decades of careful image cultivation under his belt, as well as some of his best-known associates, like Warren Ellis, Kylie Minogue and others. The sheer stunning visuals, from cinematography to pitch-perfect tailoring, make it worth a view, all on their own.

Which day will be the day?

Detroit Film Theatre: 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7887; dia.org/detroitfilmtheatre.