Velvet Goldmine
1998
Loosely based on the experiences and personalities of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, VELVET GOLDMINE is a wild, glitter-laced trip through the 1970s era of glam rock. Fictional characters Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor) are personifications of glam rock's ideals, with the mysterious and androgynous .. Read more
| Starring | Ewan McGregor, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard, Jonathan Rhys Meyers |
|---|---|
| Director | Todd Haynes |
| Genres | Drama, Gay/Lesbian |
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Velvet Goldmine
Loosely based on the experiences and personalities of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, VELVET GOLDMINE is a wild, glitter-laced trip through the 1970s era of glam rock. Fictional characters Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor) are personifications of glam rock's ideals, with the mysterious and androgynous Slade balanced by the intense, raucous Wild. When Slade disappears, the era itself seems to melt away, swallowed up by the slick 1980s. But Slade's story, and the story of glam rock, is retold when journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is assigned to discover what really happened to Slade. Through his own memories of this time, Arthur faces his childhood fears and fantasies. With a nod to Oscar Wilde, a CITIZEN KANE-like structure, and an overall sumptuous atmosphere, VELVET GOLDMINE is director Todd Haynes's unique look at homosexuality, indulgence, and, most importantly, rock 'n' roll.
| Starring | Ewan McGregor, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Christian Bale |
|---|---|
| Director | Todd Haynes |
| Studio | CHANNEL 4 DVD |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 58 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, Gay/Lesbian |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Subtitles | DVD: None |
| Released | DVD: 01 Jan 2007 Production year: 1998 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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Todd Haynes (Safe) is an imaginative and original director, and he employs both those qualities here, but, sadly, they fail to make this mishmash of a movie work. Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers star as a couple of singers over-indulging on sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and failing to make their lives function in this thinly disguised tribute to Iggy Pop and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. Seen as a montage through the eyes of investigative journalist Christian Bale, the duo's rise and fall is charted in all its mooning, cocaine-snorting vainglory. The film looks great and has tons of atmosphere, but it's a soulless, unstructured piece of movie-making and, in the end, you don't really care about the characters or their downfall.
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"...Dazzlingly surreal....Blazing with exquisite yet abstract passions, and with quite a lot to look at on the side....Ewan McGregor makes a fabulously charismatic rock star..."
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Most helpful member's review
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13 out of 13 people found this review helpful
rise and fall of the god of glitter
Surreal, orgasmic, swirling mass of colour and delight. I love this film and J.Rhys-Meyers is beautiful throughout. Ewan McGregor's accent is a bit dodgy.....which is a shame.Toni Collette and Christian Bale are reliably great and Eddie Izzard's screen time, though minimal, is thoroughly enjoyable. Certainly one of my favourite films ever. At first viewing I found it highly confusing and the chronology a little hard to follow (you have to watch the hairstyles), i think trying to analyse and make sense of the plot only defeats the object of the piece though. In the end, this is supposed to be a surreal film - it is a mixture of different peoples memories and I think that the story was intended to be warped. Don't try and work it out just enjoy the music, the colours and the abundance of glitter.
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Most recent members' review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Elegance walking hand in hand with a lie.
There are two ways to watch this film. The first is to sit down and attempt to watch a biography of 70s Bowie and, if you do that, then you've failed from the start and will be utterly disappointed for this is not what this film is about and Todd Haynes will quite happily tell you that himself.
It is more about the Glam Rock era per say and the idea of building up personas, experimentation and the whole shebang. In that sense the film works very well because it twists and turns, deceives and never gives a completely straight answer and plays joyfully with your interpretations and senses.
In some ways the idea of having Christian Bale’s looking back at his own past and how it intertwined with glam rock is a good idea as we can connect with this rather everyday character, and together we can look back and try to remember incidents, wild days and ideas that only seem more mysterious and strange with the passing of time.
Of course, as with all things, the passing of time renders things more beautiful and dreamlike than they ever were and the film plays on this, mixing the everyday with fantasy and dream until what the truth was, or is, is never that clear despite that the fact that we appear to have found all the answers and discovered Brian Slade’s big secret. -
News and features
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I'm Not There
- 19 Dec 2007
Bob Dylan casts an elusive shadow. This year we've seen Hayden Christensen playing Not Bob (at the insistence of Mr Dylan's lawyers) in Factory Girl. Adam Sandler looking awfully like him in Reign On Me. And we've heard the real McCoy growl out a new blues on the soundtrack for Lucky You. Now we get no less than six Bobs (though none goes by that name) in Todd Haynes' bio-mash-up, I'm Not There. The title comes from one of the more obscure Basement Tapes recordings, and you can see why it... Read more
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Loosely based on the experiences and personalities of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, VELVET GOLDMINE is a wild, glitter-laced trip through the 1970s era of glam rock. Fictional characters Brian Slade (... -