Mr. Jones should not sue

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 1998)

Bowie should of course not sue, because this film is not about Bowie or Iggy Pop, not even about Ziggy Stardust, but about fictional characters called Brian Slade and Curt Wild. Surely these characters are obviously modelled after mentioned glamrock-artists, including hairstyles, dress, etcetera, but they are not meant to represent the actual Bowie or Iggy Pop. In fact, as portrayed by Ewan McGregor Curt Wild looks more like Kurt Cobain.
If Todd Haynes had wanted to do a biopic about Bowie, he would have done so (just like he did with Karen Carpenter in his Barbie-doll epic). Instead Haynes has made a film about a period in time when rock'n'roll took an interesting turn, focussing on some artist's ambivalent sexual presentation and on stylish extravaganza. He links these themes with the adolescent audience's need for rolemodels, i.e. the young journalist in the film, whose Citizen Kane-like search for the truth about Brian Slade takes him back to the choices he has made during his own puberty. Finally, Haynes has crammed all these themes into a musical, giving him the opportunity to include a lot of music and dance, and to tell the Brian Slade-story in a videoclip-like artificial style. In my opinion all of this adds up to a great film.
I suppose Mr. Jones' refusal to let Haynes use Mr. Bowie's music is a typical example of the questionable attitude that is shown by Mr. Slade/Mr. Stone in Velvet Goldmine.