Velvet Goldmine

Rating:
Summary: Best musical ever
Review: And, for that matter, one of my personal favorite movies ever.

To start with, you should proabaly be aware of what this movie is not. It's not a Bowie biopic. I don't imagine there will ever be one - Bowie is, in my opinion, too much of a fan of his ever morphing personas to really want to revisit the reality of his own history. And if you go into this thing especting a straight up history, you're going to be disappointed and quite possibly deeply annoyed. (Though it is, I admit, momentarily amusing to try and map the assorted characters to real-life inspirations - this always breaks down when you get to Jack Fairy).

And, while the film certainly does tell a story, I'd argue that it's not neccessarily the one you're expecting. For me, at least, the thing's more about the deeply personal experiences of the Arthur Stewart character than it is about anything else - though that does come after viewing this thing maybe 25 times.

But that aside, there are just scads of things to love about this movie. The music, obviously. Which was what attracted me to this thing in the first place. There's not a single song misplaced. You even get over the lack of Bowie tracks after a while (the realization that this thing isn't about Bowie, as I've already mentioned, helps here).

But beyond the music, this movie is just so damned *ambitious*. I mean, it has at least three beginnings, multiple endings, every filmic device under the sun. You've got Oscar Wilde, aliens, and James Dean all making cameos. Spectacular costumes. Delightfully non-linear storytelling that owes as much to Rashomon as it does to Citizen Kane. Superb performances across the board (even the guys from Placebo do a servicable job which, I'll be honest, sort of surprised me). And every single detail is spot-on perfect.

Should anyone avoid this flick? If gay sex bugs you, you might want to give this a miss. And if you're really wanting a factual history of glam, ditto - like I said, this thing is seriously fictional (though, a recent reading of that truly awful Angela Bowie book made me think that, just maybe, she was an uncredited consultant here, for whatever that's worth). Other than that, this is one hell of a movie.

Play it very loud.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Perfect And Poisonous...
Review: This film was luscious, simply luscious. There was so many times during the film that I was licking my lips and being enveloped into a world of glamour, glitter and rock-n-roll. This movie is rather dreamy and completely something different, something good.

True, this film was basically a fictionalization of the affair between David Bowie and Iggy Pop. But I don't believe that is the only plot-line that inspired Todd Haynes' work. I also think that he takes from Oscar Wilde's novel "The Portrait Of Dorian Gray" and of course the ubiquitious mentions of "Citizen Kane." But the basic plot is one of a rise and fall, a journalist remembering his past and a relationship between Brian Slade and Curt Wild.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers..... wow... this boy can act and he is deliciously beautiful as Brian Slade. He was so good and he really brought across the feeling that he was cold, aloof and nothing more than the image that he presented. Ewan McGregor was honestly likable as Curt Wilde. In fact, I definately felt for him when Brian broke up with him. Toni Colette was also a treat as Mandy, Brian's wife.

The costuming and soundtrack for the film was absolutely stunning. It was, in a way, a long and pieced out music video paying homage to that time. And yes, I did love the boy-touching which to me is always sensual. So yes, brilliant, wonderful movie. Very much a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: First and Foremost.....
Review: I have read several pages now of reviews. This movie seems to either be loved or passionately hated. Despite these differences though, one common element remains, the repetitive and unnecessary references to David Bowie. YES, we get the point that this movie may possibly be about Bowie, we don't really need to hear it from every reviewer. Ok, pat yourselves on the back, you're bloody rock experts, now shut up and move on.

Now for my review. I actually rather liked this movie. The plot is a bit dumb but the other elements of the film almost make up for it. The soundtrack is stunning, especially the T-Rex song, and the actors do an amazing job. Ewan MacGregor is, in my opinion, the best actor in the whole show. He displays, as he usually does, his energy, flamboyance, and private body parts. With all that, who could ask for more from a movie?

Rating:
Summary: An interesting experiment is turned into a waste of time
Review: "For once, there was an unknown land, full of strange flowers and subtle perfumes; a land of which it is joy of all joys to dream; a land where all things are perfect and poisonous."

It will occur to most people who watch "Velvet Goldmine" that it is even more like "Citizen Kane" than "Eddie and the Cruisers," but this 1998 film is not even as good as the second of those two films. The story is set in 1984, when British newspaper reporter Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is investigating whatever happened to glam rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), who faked his "assassination" on stage back in the 1970s and then dropped from the music scene. Fortunately Stuart was a fan back at the beginning, when Slade was inspired by another singer, Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor). So director Todd Haynes takes us back and forth from the present to the past to try and put the pieces together.

The problem is that we never really care about the characters as much as we do about the music (Sandy Powell's Oscar nominated costume designs are actually more interesting than the characters). At least when Slade, Wild or anybody else is performing a song we get to enjoy the moment, but that just ends up being an argument for picking up the soundtrack instead of seeing the movie. Any assumption that Slade "is" David Bowie and Slade "is" Iggy Pop does not get you very far in terms of adding depth to the film, so it is just not worth pursuing, anymore than trying to figure out what the spaceship and young Oscar Wilde from the opening scene mean to the narrative.

The remaining line of analysis to try and find some substance to go with the glitter and style is to consider Slade to be some sort of glam philosopher. After all, he is given to epigrammatic pronouncements, such as "Rock and Roll is a prostitute, it should be tarted up." But then you hear him say things like, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person...Give him a mask and he'll tell you the truth," and you realize he's cribbing comments from Oscar Wilde (there are notions that Wilde is more than just the spiritual godfather of glam rock, but that is another aspect of the film that does not go anywhere worthwhile in the end. However, one epigram does serve as a fitting epitaph for "Velvet Goldmine," when it is rightfully observed that, "What started out as an interesting experiment has turned into a demeaning waste of time."