Velvet Goldmine (DVD)

I saw this film when I was working in a cinema - I had been reading alot about the making of it due to the Glam Rock subject matter and the fact that it is named after an unreleased Bowie song - Uncut magazine did a very good issue on it - and that it was produced by Michael Stipe.

I was not dissapointed although it seems everyone else was as it received some of the worst reviews in recent years. Most of these reviews attacked the ...
...it did the period justice and was better than I imagined.

The film centres around a Bowie-alike singer called Brian Slade (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who, after failing to ignite his career as a singer-songwriter, reinvents himself as a Glam Rock God who turns Britain on its head. Like Bowie he admits to being Bisexual and causes hordes of youngsters to experiment with their sexuality and image. He becomes a superstar and then ... more

I saw this film when I was working in a cinema - I had been reading alot about the making of it due to the Glam Rock subject matter and the fact that it is named after an unreleased Bowie song - Uncut magazine did a very good issue on it - and that it was produced by Michael Stipe.

I was not dissapointed although it seems everyone else was as it received some of the worst reviews in recent years. Most of these reviews attacked the style and construction of the film but I felt that it did the period justice and was better than I imagined.

The film centres around a Bowie-alike singer called Brian Slade (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who, after failing to ignite his career as a singer-songwriter, reinvents himself as a Glam Rock God who turns Britain on its head. Like Bowie he admits to being Bisexual and causes hordes of youngsters to experiment with their sexuality and image. He becomes a superstar and then at the height of his fame he is seemingly murdered by an unknown gunman whilst on stage. It later transpires that his death was faked and was an art statement - his fans and the media turn against him and he dissappears from the public eye.

Watching all this is a confused young man played by Christian Bale who suddenly feels he has found someone like him in Brian. Thrown into the mix is Curt Wild - played brilliantly by Ewan McGregor - who is modelled on Kurt Cobain, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. Brian reignites his failing career by producing an album with him - as did Bowie for Iggy and Lou.

The film flips backwards and forwards from present day to the 70's as Christian Bale, who is now a journalist, is sent off to cover the story of Brians fall from grace. Bale starts to remember how he got involved in a love triangle with Curt and Brian and his memories of the Glam Rock scene.

The story isn't really the main thing about this film though - anyone interested in this era of music will have fun spotting the references and guessing who is supposed to be based on who. The soundtrack is also amazing with Thom Yorke leading supergroup The Venus in Furs on such covers as Roxy Musics 2HB and Ladytron, Teenage Fanclub doing the New York Dolls Personality Crisis and Placebo doing 20th Century Boy. Along side this you get Shudder to Think with original songs written in a Glam Rock vein - the best ones being The Ballad of Maxwell Demon ( Brians version of Ziggy Stardust) and Hot One. The for this reason the soundtrack is definitely worth buying as a companion peice.

All 3 main leads are brilliant and give their all to the film, especially Ewan who as usual does full frontal nudity and more, and even performs The Stooges TV Eye in the film with his fictional band Wylde Rattz. The film is not to be taken too seriously - it is very camp and funny - watch for Eddie Izzard as Brians manager. You should just forget what you have heard of it and just enjoy.

The only downside is the ending - which I won't spoil here but the 80's version of Brian Slade is ludicrous and is obviously based on Serious Moonlight era Bowie. But this is the only criticism I can make.

The best thing about it is that is pretentious in a good way and I suspect that it may be a favourite tour bus film of The Scissor Sisters. 

...less