This film is loosely based on David Bowie...

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2018)

... on the cusp of stardom in the early 1970s with his "Ziggy Stardust" album and persona (the title comes from a Bowie song of that period). In fact, Bowie was approached, but he then had plans of making his own movie about this time, and demurred. He also did not allow the use of his music for this film.
So a somewhat fictionalized account was used. It is told in flashback, when newspaper writer played by Christian Bale has to write an article about a sensational death of a rock star, which turned out to have been staged and fraudulent. The rock star is a Ziggy-like androgynous glam-rock star, played by Jonathan Rhys Myers. Bale's writer has ambivalent feelings about the assignment, behaving a bit like a clumsy teenager at the time, attracted to this glam rock movement and struggling with his sexuality. Ewan McGregor plays another rock star who is a pastiche of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger. Toni Collette plays an Angela Bowie type character, who helps fill in the gaps of the story of her husband.
The British glam-rock scene seems to have been well-captured, with all the purported decadence of the stars. Classic songs of the period by the likes of T.Rex, Slade, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, and Cockney Rebel make up for the lack of Bowie songs. Highly recommended.