Mesmerizing with an interesting premise

Rating: 9/10 (8 March 1999)

Who would have thought that glam rock was an otherworldly descendant of Oscar Wilde? Well I think most anyone that has seen a performance but never thought about it consciously. This "obvious" idea was captured by Todd Haymes who wrote and directed Velvet Goldmine. The story borrows elements from Oscar Wilde, Citizen Kane, pop icons that resemble David Bowie and Iggy Pop, and quasi-premise of the B movie, Eddie and Cruisers. All this mells into a surreal story of love and fame. I will not be specific in telling the story but if you find androgyny and bisexuality offensive don't see this movie, but that would be to pigeonhole this film unfairly. The story is told thru Arthur (Christian Bale) who is an investigative reporter looking for a glam rocker, Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) who has disappear- ed. In his search he finds Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor) also a rocker but also Slade's inspiration, friend, and former lover. All the performers were excellent. They showed great versatilty in that it traces their lives from the teenage years with the turmoil of maturing and sexuality to midde age. I was also impressed that both Mr. McGregor and Mr. Myers did many of their own vocals. The story also cunningly weaves the story of the reporter in with that of the two protagonists. As a person old enough to remember the glam rock era, this movie portrays well and captures the feeling of that time. It does so with fantastic costuming and cinematography as honest believable charac ters. Velvet Goldmine is great entertainment I will hope and look for much more from Mr. McGregor who if they ever do the story of Kurt Cobain he should star as I could not help but see a striking resemblance as well as Mr. Rhys-Meyes, and Mr. Bales. All were EXCELLENT. Three and a half stars!