I feel great pity for anyone who feels this movie is boring or lacks imagination....

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 1999)

"For once there was an unknown land, full of strange flowers and subtle perfumes, a land of which it is joy of all joys to dream, a land where all things are perfect and poisonous. " This is the setting. The movie is Velvet Goldmine and the time period is the 70's Glam rock era of England. Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale), a journalist, is sent out with an assignment to write an anniversary article on the staged assassination of glitter rock divinity Brian Slade (Jonathon Rhys Meyers). He reluctantly takes the assignment and begins to investigate his fallen lipsticked idol. This Todd Haynes film is like nothing ever seen before and in the end, like nothing it appears. Like a grand masterpiece, this film depends upon a layering of plots to create a multi-dimensional effect. At the center of it all, is the story of Arthur, a reporter who moves to America to forget his past, only to unleash these long-buried memories while investigating the Brian Slade story. Through flashbacks, we observe Arthur's early life in England, his discovery of glitter rock, and his attempts to hide his obsession from his family. By way of a Citizen Kane interview technique, we witness the story of Brian Slade as told by his ex-manager, Cecil Drake, and his ex-wife, Mandy Slade (Toni Collete) from the birth to the fall of the star. Sliced into such scenes are elements of glamour and fantasy, as well as the public's views via newspaper articles and television reports. Then there are the music videos that parelell the ongoing story. Providing a smooth transition between sharply cut components is strange poetry, flashy quotes, Barbie doll love scenes, Oscar Wilde's fall to earth, and other strange takes on reality. In chessboard fashion, the glitter pawns remain as vital to the game as the queens and the pieces work together as a well-oiled machine. Bisexual alien rock messiah Brian Slade provides the easiest draw to real life glitter rock. From his hippie folk comeuppance to his Venusian persona Maxwell Demon, Brian is more David Bowie than Bowie himself. Throughout the movie we are kept at a painful emotional distance from Slade. However, it is not only essential to the way the story is told, but it keeps the focus on the history of glam. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, perhaps more lip model than actor, gives us the perfect pout, tort reply, and doe-eyed look of a pop icon. Curt Wild, a mess of uniquely American glitterology, is nine-tenths Iggy Pop from his physique to his songs to his trailer-trash, Michigan backwoods past. The rest comes from a combination of Lou Reed and Mick Ronson. Ewan McGregor, though not as thin as Iggy, captures the drug worn, confused rocker perfectly. From dutiful wife to tell-all ex, Mandy Slade performs a vital part in the tale. Based on Angela Bowie, Mandy masks her intelligence by outrageousness. As annoying as she may be, she and Brian do make the ideal Barbie and Ken of androgyny. Toni Collete provides a pleasant rendition of "wan and wasted." Arthur Stuart, the glitter pop fan in all of us, is lost in the gender-bending, camp attack on rock and roll. He is not pretty, not special, and not based on anyone in particular. He just serves as the vehicle for the audience to see the story. Christian Bale does not provide a flashy or over the top performance, but then again he isn't meant to. Then, there is Jack Fairy, a strange brew, who has no real purpose but to appear at key moments during the film and act cool. His trash-meets-glamour aura borrows from Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno, but he is more fairytale than factual history. He is simply the patron saint of all that is camp. Reality is not in things but in between them, and Velvet Goldmine wavers heavily between glam reality and glam fiction. The David Bowie references seem to stand on the most solid ground. Like Brian Slade, Bowie actually went from Mod, to folk artist, to space age rocker, to fallen cocaine addict, to bleach blonde pop sellout. He was influenced by Little Richard and experimented with every aspect of his life. Both Brian Eno and Iggy Pop left the rock world for Berlin's cold dream-like techno as did Curt Wild and Jack Fairy. The use of stage names and even the album covers and music videos parallel real life glam. However, there are some differences. Unlike Slade's persona Maxwell Demon, Bowie's Ziggy Stardust never faked an assassination. Bowie never dropped out of the public or changed his name, whereas Slade disappeared and then reemerged as Tommy Stone. And despite what the film indicated, Bowie and Iggy's relationship did not end. In fact, they lived together in Berlin for a long period at the end of the seventies. There are also some events in the movie that still remain a mystery in real life. Did Bowie really have a relationship with Iggy Pop? Or Lou Reed? Or Mick Ronson? Was Oscar Wilde really an alien? To experience the full effect of Velvet Goldmine, we must never know. So close your eyes. Take a little trip. And behold a rhapsody divine.