Theatrical Bowiegraphy Pic For A Fictional Chameleon

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2014)

I happened to be reading Marc Spitz's fanboy bio of Bowie when I saw Velvet Goldmine, and did so because it was mentioned in the book. This movie feels almost like reading a chapter from that book. Bowie is a creation built from the outside in. If I squint a little and doze off slightly watching this film, the correspondence to the preposterous truth and emphatic construction of a faÃ§ade in the film is just about right. There are videos on YouTube of Bowie interviews which are as much performances as this portrayal. Many details seem to be directly out of the record including the styles of music managers and their demands on venues. Since the subject matter is Bowie, its about right that this world is all Technicolor and Trickle. It's about right. (The impersonation of Iggy is about as good as it gets.)