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Amazon.com
Todd Haynes, ever unpredictable, follows up his experimental trilogy Poison and his restrained Safe with this flamboyant study in glam rock through the kaleidoscopic lens of Citizen Kane. Christian Bale plays Arthur Stuart, a reporter sent to investigate the legend of rock legend and bisexual pop icon Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a not-so-thinly veiled David Bowie), who disappeared a decade ago after staging his own mock assassination. But Arthur is flooded with memories of his own adolescence as he interviews Slade's friends and business associates, peeling back the layer of makeup and spangles that was the model of rebellion for a generation of middle-class British kids and discovering a hollow center. Ewan McGregor almost steals the film as the punk pioneer Curt Wild (equal parts Iggy Pop and Kurt Cobain), the genuine article to Slade's calculated, coifed image of glitter stardom. Haynes's film lacks nothing in capturing the flamboyance and spectacle of the era with flashy filmmaking and kitschy costumes, and if the plot seems lost in the preening and visual fireworks, perhaps that's the point: behind the façades and manufactured fronts is nothing but glitter, energy, and a beat. --Sean Axmaker
Product Description
Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!), Jonathan Rhys Meyers ("The Tudors") and Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, The Fighter) star in this alluring journey through rock 'n' roll's most outrageous era. It's been 10 years since glam-rock superstar Brian Slade (Meyers) faked his own death and vanished from the spotlight. Now, it's the job of an investigative reporter (Bale) to uncover the truth behind his disappearance. Directed by Todd Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) and acclaimed by critics, Velvet Goldmine delves into the vibrant 70's music scene with an all-access pass and an uncompromising look at the flamboyance and excesses of its larger-than-life stars.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
70 of 73 people found the following review helpful
By E.A. Week
Format:DVD
An oddball film that chronicles the rise and fall of an early 1970s glam rock star, Velvet Goldmine almost defies categorization. While separating fiction from fact can be tricky, the story is based pretty much on the life of David Bowie; some details have been tweaked for dramatic effect, but there's surprisingly little deviation from just about any biography that's ever been written about him. The non-linear narrative takes the viewer into the glittery world of one Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and the entourage surrounding him. Slade had created an alter-ego for himself called Maxwell Demon (as Bowie created Ziggy Stardust), and the character had almost come to eclipse Slade himself. After an on-stage stunt literally backfires, Slade's fans revolted against him, and the singer vanished into drugs and obscurity.
His story is conveyed in flashbacks when, in 1984, journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is assigned to write a tenth anniversary retrospective on Slade and perhaps uncover the singer's ultimate fate. Arthur interviews Slade's first manager, Cecil (Michael Feast) and then his bitter ex-wife, Mandy (Toni Collette), and from them pieces together Slade's early background as a musician, including the players who proved crucial to his career: maverick second manager Jerry Devine (Eddie Izzard), unstable proto-punk rocker Kurt Wild (Ewan McGregor), and deceptively shy wardrobe mistress Shannon (Emily Woof). Arthur of course is no mere bystander to all these events; the unfolding story reveals that he was a huge fan of Slade, turning to music as an escape during his troubled adolescence. In digging up Slade's past, he also unleashes a lot of his own demons, and the story is just as much Arthur's as Brian's.
Although the film stands as a loving homage to glitter, it also doesn't hesitate to reveal that the core of the phenomenon was essentially empty. Somehow, Velvet Goldmine manages to both celebrate and condemn glam rock: Slade starts his career as a naive singer-songwriter with some interesting and unusual ideas, but once Devine's corporate machine takes over, Slade's creativity is stifled to the point where he's a prisoner of his own artifice. Ultimately, the pre-fabricated exterior is all that's left of him.
Teasing out the narrative thread is no easy feat. Velvet Goldmine is liberally draped in yards of trappings: musical interludes, documentary sequences, images that often go unexplained and don't add much; there's characters, scenes, and plot threads that serve no purpose other than window dressing. Some of this proves effective (a take on early music video is a real hoot), but much of the excess could've been trimmed away in the interests of tightening the story. While Arthur's investigation into the Slade mystery is handled well, other plot elements needed more attention.
Bowiephiles will recognize every phase of their idol's early career: the dapper mod, the curly-haired hippie, the cross-dressed singer-songwriter, the flamboyant glam rocker (there's even a very fun poke at Serious Moonlight-era Bowie that cleverly ties into the main plot). The characters mirror exactly those in Bowie's orbit, but viewers who don't know the characters and don't get the jokes/ references are apt to find themselves baffled, not to mention put off by the film's excesses.
Anyone willing to sift through the spangles and feathers, however, will be rewarded with some terrific acting. Ewan McGregor is mostly wasted as the unstable Kurt Wild--he has a couple of knockout performance sequences, but Wild otherwise spends most of his scenes drugged out and exploding in angry diatribes; although McGregor gets top billing, Wild is really a supporting player. Izzard is a lot of fun as the oily Devine; Woof handles Shannon's transformation from innocent schoolgirl to shrewd operator with aplomb; Feast is terrifically droll in his work as the ignominiously discarded Cecil. Bale is utterly fearless as Arthur: he has to put across a lot of weakness and shyness and self-doubt, as well as Arthur's sexual awakening. Many actors wouldn't have touched this character with the proverbial ten-foot pole, but Bale handles the material--including one humiliating moment in Arthur's life--without the slightest hint of self-consciousness. Toni Colette is a marvel, taking her character from naive party girl to cynical rock wife to jaded, washed-up ex--she's funny and subtle and outrageous, suggesting a deep and genuine love for Brian, pain and betrayal when he essentially dumps her for Kurt, and finally weary bitterness that the world at large has forgotten her. Of all the characters, Mandy seems to have truly loved the wild circus of glam rock, and she longs for the past with a touching sense of nostalgia.
As terrific as all these performances are, the film belongs to Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, whose turn as Bowie is nothing short of riveting. A kind of raw sexual energy seems to pour out of him; he's magnetic, and much like Bowie himself, it's impossible to take your eyes off him. The physical resemblance is particularly uncanny, and Rhys-Meyers gets all the little details down perfectly: the expressions, the posture, the body language. Like Bale, he tackles the role head-on, and it's a testament to his skill that he conveys such depth of emotion through layers of costume, wig, and makeup. Even his reedy voice evokes the young Bowie, and yes, that's him singing in four different numbers (two of them were left off the movie's soundtrack CD). This role, more than any of his others, brings home the depth and extent of JRM's talent. Everyone in the film is stellar, but only Rhys-Meyers seems touched with genuine prodigy. Anyone who admires him as an actor shouldn't miss him here.
Velvet Goldmine's other great strength is its music, which consists of classic tunes from the era, as well as songs specifically written for the film. The overall effect is of a long-lost Bowie album, and it's a pity that two or three show-stoppers were left off the soundtrack. Music is of course inextricably linked to story in this type of film, used to illuminate character and propel the narrative. A couple of set pieces don't work, but mostly the music is wonderful, melding perfectly to the visual images and adding depth to each scene.
Velvet Goldmine plainly isn't a movie for everyone, and almost certainly some would find it unwatchable; mileage will vary greatly depending on one's tolerance for gay characters, men in drag, and a heightened sense of camp. There's also a *lot* of sex (gay, straight, group, and solo) and full frontal nudity (male and female)--the film is rated R for a very good reason. Velvet Goldmine can probably be summed up as a diamond in the rough--the viewer may need to do some chipping, but the glittering facets that are revealed make the effort worthwhile.
His story is conveyed in flashbacks when, in 1984, journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is assigned to write a tenth anniversary retrospective on Slade and perhaps uncover the singer's ultimate fate. Arthur interviews Slade's first manager, Cecil (Michael Feast) and then his bitter ex-wife, Mandy (Toni Collette), and from them pieces together Slade's early background as a musician, including the players who proved crucial to his career: maverick second manager Jerry Devine (Eddie Izzard), unstable proto-punk rocker Kurt Wild (Ewan McGregor), and deceptively shy wardrobe mistress Shannon (Emily Woof). Arthur of course is no mere bystander to all these events; the unfolding story reveals that he was a huge fan of Slade, turning to music as an escape during his troubled adolescence. In digging up Slade's past, he also unleashes a lot of his own demons, and the story is just as much Arthur's as Brian's.
Although the film stands as a loving homage to glitter, it also doesn't hesitate to reveal that the core of the phenomenon was essentially empty. Somehow, Velvet Goldmine manages to both celebrate and condemn glam rock: Slade starts his career as a naive singer-songwriter with some interesting and unusual ideas, but once Devine's corporate machine takes over, Slade's creativity is stifled to the point where he's a prisoner of his own artifice. Ultimately, the pre-fabricated exterior is all that's left of him.
Teasing out the narrative thread is no easy feat. Velvet Goldmine is liberally draped in yards of trappings: musical interludes, documentary sequences, images that often go unexplained and don't add much; there's characters, scenes, and plot threads that serve no purpose other than window dressing. Some of this proves effective (a take on early music video is a real hoot), but much of the excess could've been trimmed away in the interests of tightening the story. While Arthur's investigation into the Slade mystery is handled well, other plot elements needed more attention.
Bowiephiles will recognize every phase of their idol's early career: the dapper mod, the curly-haired hippie, the cross-dressed singer-songwriter, the flamboyant glam rocker (there's even a very fun poke at Serious Moonlight-era Bowie that cleverly ties into the main plot). The characters mirror exactly those in Bowie's orbit, but viewers who don't know the characters and don't get the jokes/ references are apt to find themselves baffled, not to mention put off by the film's excesses.
Anyone willing to sift through the spangles and feathers, however, will be rewarded with some terrific acting. Ewan McGregor is mostly wasted as the unstable Kurt Wild--he has a couple of knockout performance sequences, but Wild otherwise spends most of his scenes drugged out and exploding in angry diatribes; although McGregor gets top billing, Wild is really a supporting player. Izzard is a lot of fun as the oily Devine; Woof handles Shannon's transformation from innocent schoolgirl to shrewd operator with aplomb; Feast is terrifically droll in his work as the ignominiously discarded Cecil. Bale is utterly fearless as Arthur: he has to put across a lot of weakness and shyness and self-doubt, as well as Arthur's sexual awakening. Many actors wouldn't have touched this character with the proverbial ten-foot pole, but Bale handles the material--including one humiliating moment in Arthur's life--without the slightest hint of self-consciousness. Toni Colette is a marvel, taking her character from naive party girl to cynical rock wife to jaded, washed-up ex--she's funny and subtle and outrageous, suggesting a deep and genuine love for Brian, pain and betrayal when he essentially dumps her for Kurt, and finally weary bitterness that the world at large has forgotten her. Of all the characters, Mandy seems to have truly loved the wild circus of glam rock, and she longs for the past with a touching sense of nostalgia.
As terrific as all these performances are, the film belongs to Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, whose turn as Bowie is nothing short of riveting. A kind of raw sexual energy seems to pour out of him; he's magnetic, and much like Bowie himself, it's impossible to take your eyes off him. The physical resemblance is particularly uncanny, and Rhys-Meyers gets all the little details down perfectly: the expressions, the posture, the body language. Like Bale, he tackles the role head-on, and it's a testament to his skill that he conveys such depth of emotion through layers of costume, wig, and makeup. Even his reedy voice evokes the young Bowie, and yes, that's him singing in four different numbers (two of them were left off the movie's soundtrack CD). This role, more than any of his others, brings home the depth and extent of JRM's talent. Everyone in the film is stellar, but only Rhys-Meyers seems touched with genuine prodigy. Anyone who admires him as an actor shouldn't miss him here.
Velvet Goldmine's other great strength is its music, which consists of classic tunes from the era, as well as songs specifically written for the film. The overall effect is of a long-lost Bowie album, and it's a pity that two or three show-stoppers were left off the soundtrack. Music is of course inextricably linked to story in this type of film, used to illuminate character and propel the narrative. A couple of set pieces don't work, but mostly the music is wonderful, melding perfectly to the visual images and adding depth to each scene.
Velvet Goldmine plainly isn't a movie for everyone, and almost certainly some would find it unwatchable; mileage will vary greatly depending on one's tolerance for gay characters, men in drag, and a heightened sense of camp. There's also a *lot* of sex (gay, straight, group, and solo) and full frontal nudity (male and female)--the film is rated R for a very good reason. Velvet Goldmine can probably be summed up as a diamond in the rough--the viewer may need to do some chipping, but the glittering facets that are revealed make the effort worthwhile.
38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
I *really* wish this film would materialize into a human so I could have sex with it. If you haven't seen the film and are getting put off by the nasty reviews here, please, for your sake, ignore them. They didn't get it. It was meant to be a campy, fun, very indulgent piece of slash fan fiction. Nothing more.
I'll be honest, it's not for everyone. If the idea of extremely sexy and gorgeous boys in makeup and tight pants making out appeals to you, especially if you're obsessed with glam rock, and an extra bonus if you're a rabid Placebo fan (the Placeboys are in it, and Brian looks tastier than I've ever seen him, which is saying something), buy this movie immidiately. You will not regret it, I swear.
However, if you're homophobic, or you think this was supposed to be a bio of Magic Pants himself, or you want to watch a brilliantly written indie film like Trainspotting or something, you're going to be pissed off. I won't lie to you. This movie was made for girls who are into the whole slash fan fiction scene and gay boys only. If you're a fan of Hedwig, Labyrinth and Rocky Horror, you're going to be obsessed with this film.
And the soundtrack kicks f*cking @ss, btw.
Oh yeah, and Ewan McGregor's naked.
Now go see it.
47 of 53 people found the following review helpful
By Aliebling
Format:VHS Tape
Many of this film's critics make the mistake of taking it too literally - though based on Bowie's life, it's not intended to be accurate or biographical. It is a glam fantasy, both beautiful and painful at the same time. The story is very complex, but every bit of it is worthwhile, so if you didn't "get it" the first time around, try watching it again! I have seen Velvet Goldmine many times, and every time there is something new that I notice, or something else to think about. Todd Haynes' script and direction and pure genius, and that's all there is to it!
I can not find fault with a single of the actors - each of the stars gives a incredible performance. Toni Collette, Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Ewan McGregor give depth and emotion to characters, so that even at their harshest or most brutal moments, one can't help but feel for them. Micko Westmoreland (aka The Bowling Green) is a standout as Jack Fairy, who is glamour personified. There is wonderful chemistry between the male leads, who truly bring to life the movie's gay romance. Their on-screen kiss is more passionate and beautiful than any I have ever seen on film, gay or straight.
But before you start taking the movie too seriously, it's also great fun! You can analyze it, which is worthwile, or you can pop it in for a night of fluff and glamour. Everything is visually exciting... feathers, sequins, spaceships, and glitter everwhere. Not to mention the music! Perhaps the most valuable thing I gained from this movie was an introduction to a genre of music I knew nothing about. How did I survive for so long without Roxy Music?
I HIGHLY recommend this movie!
"Once upon a time, not so long ago, the children of the revolution looked up into the sky. And there, hovering amid a boulevard of stars, was a vision of the future as strange and dazzling as any dream. What they saw that night no one can ever say. But what they heard can still be heard today."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Long time coming
I saw this movie a few years ago, but didn't really pay attention. Finally bought it, and don't remember it being as rough as it is, but still an enjoyable movie. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Raymond E. Jarvis
5.0 out of 5 stars
iNTERESTING MOVIE
Saw this movie on Netflix then ordered it for my collection. Movie takes you deep inside the world of Glam Rock. I do wish the DVD cover was the other version. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Malcolm Stallons
3.0 out of 5 stars
Still good but...
This is such a weird movie that I'm not sure if I like it or not. I think I do, but by a thin margin. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Eric Vondran
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful But Maybe Not Right For Everyone
This one is a classic with music that haunts my mind whenever I just think about it. It is a story about glam rockers and sexual liberation. It is primarily about homosexual men. Read more
Published 3 months ago by dworldmoney
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not The Best, But Not The Worst
I don't think this movie is as bad as many on here made it out to be, but at the same time, it's not nearly as phenomenal and amazing of a film as the 5-star reviewers would like... Read more
Published 6 months ago by LightofBeauty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Great Glam Rock soundtrack
This movie captures that moment perfectly. Michael Stipes is a genius. I'm glad Bowie pulled out because it made it a far better story, and the writers then had to really push... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jerry Dunham
3.0 out of 5 stars
A dramatic look at 1970's glam rock
It's always interesting to go back many years and watch films with rising young actors who are now household names. Read more
Published 14 months ago by M. Oleson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Velvet Goldmine
As a music fan, I have always enjoyed films that showcase the lives of certain musicians, especially the rise and fall of some of them. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Carlos E. Velasquez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Favorite film ever.
It doesn't get any better than this! The acting, the costumes, the staging, the soundtrack, the storyline, everything about this film... it's all perfect.
Published 17 months ago by Utara
5.0 out of 5 stars
A colorful tinsel trip back in time!
Velvet Goldmine is the crystal clear reflection of the late 70's and early 80's London Music Scene. The colorful contrast between Glam Pop and Glam Rock / Punk is not only palpable... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Nezza
