Velvet
Goldmine
Reviewed
by Leonard Heldreth, August, 1999
Loosely based on the public characters
of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, Velvet Goldmine attempts, with some success,
to capture the rise and fall of the "glam rock" era of Bowie's
Ziggy Stardust. Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) is an up and coming
musician with talent but no star image. He looks with envy on Curt
Wild (Ewan McGregor) whose behavior after electro-shock treatment
has made him original, if nothing else. A new manager, Jerry Devine
(Eddie Izzard), adds the glitter, glamour, and persona of Maxwell
Demon that become Slade's trademark until his faked assassination
destroys his career.
Ten years after Slade's faked assassination, reporter
Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is given the task of finding out what
happened to Slade, and, like the reporter in Citizen Kane, he begins
to interview people from the past; two scenes—featuring the ex-manager
confined to a wheelchair in a hospital and the blonde alcoholic ex-wife
now singing in night clubs—are direct homage to Kane. Unfortunately,
the film doesn't live up to its source, but as an extended retro-rock-video,
it captures the characteristics of a period—the drug excess,
bisexuality, and the glamorous but out-of-control lives of the protagonists.
Rhys-Meyers (see The Governess review in last month's MM) is pretty
and androgynous enough to make Slade believable, and McGregor (now
forever identified as the young Obiwan Kenobi) demonstrates his ability
to disappear into a part, even when naked, making the other actors
look less effective by comparison. Bale (the now-grown boy star of
Empire of the Sun) holds his own as the reporter whose investigation
takes him back to many painful scenes with his parents and into scenes
with the rock stars. The film is slow but has its moments of interest
and beauty; if the music and style of that era interest you, you'll
find them in Velvet Goldmine. The film is likely to become a cult
favorite
