Velvet Goldmine (1998)
62KVelvet Goldmine: Directed by Todd Haynes. With Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Christian Bale, Toni Collette. In 1984, British journalist Arthur Stuart investigates the career of 1970s glam superstar Brian Slade, who was heavily influenced in his early years by hard-living and rebellious American singer Curt Wild.
“This is a fairly entertaining (if rather silly) film that is very loosely based upon David Bowieu0026#39;s career as Ziggy Stardust and his relationships with Iggy Pop, Angie Bowie, etc. Some of the scenes depicted, such as Bowieu0026#39;s performance for the actors from Andy Warholu0026#39;s Pork, ARE based on true events. The writer, Todd Haynes, incorrectly portrayed other true events: for example, it was probably Lou Reed Haynes was thinking of who received shock treatments to supposedly discourage homosexual behavior; Iggy did NOT, nor did he even HAVE a brother; he is the only child of schoolteacher parents. He DID grow up in a trailer near Detroit, although at the time trailers were more of a novelty, not the symbol of white trash that they are today. Ewan McGregor didnu0026#39;t do much for me trying to portray the Iggy character, Curt Wild (and the Rats? Ha ha ha, there WAS actually a glam band called The Rats but Iggyu0026#39;s band was, of course, The Stooges). Apparently Iggy co-operated at least to an extent with the filmmakers since they used the Stoogesu0026#39; song u0026quot;T.V. Eyeu0026quot;. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who plays the part of the Bowie character, Brian Slade, does a terrible job singing it; the New York Dolls u0026quot;Personality Crisisu0026quot; is also butchered. David Bowie refused to allow his music to be used (showing his usual intelligence and taste). Some good tunes from Roxy Music, Brian Eno, and Slade (the actual glam band not the fictional title character) are used, however. u0026quot;Needle in the Camelu0026#39;s Eyeu0026quot; is especially effective for the opening of the film. All in all, this COULD have been a great movie but instead is just so-so. There are some great tunes and clothes to admire; glam rock fans will enjoy those! But perhaps one should just watch footage of Ziggy Stardust or the New York Dolls or Marc Bolan…”
