Glam glory surreally revisited

Rating: Null/10 (1 November 1999)

A disjointed plot, and overly self-conscious references to other movies (A Hard Day's Night, Citizen Kane) nonetheless fail to dampen my enthusiasm for this film, perhaps the first to truly capture the ephemeral joys of Glam rock's glory days in England in the early 1970's. In truth, the music held up well today and the soundtrack contains gems from Eno, Roxy Music, T. Rex and others. But onto the film - a visually entrancing collage of very pretty people looking very pretty. Lots of homoerotic romance - but a gritty undercurrent keeps the movie grounded and a convincing cast overcome a slightly gauche script that trots out one-too-many quotes from New Musical Express stories of the time (a time I remember well from my own teenage fascination with David Bowie and Roxy Music). This movie holds you and you want to come back to it, and the return is only partly nostalgia for the days of Ziggy Stardust.