billsoccer A glam rocker quits 'the life' in a spectacular way. He then disappears. Years later a journalist is assigned to find out where the rocker is today. Good premise thus far, then come the flashbacks - how he came to be discovered, how he went off the deep end, etc. We learn the journalist has some relationship with some of the principal characters. The musical scenes were well done, but that's the last good thing I can say about the film. Unless you're really into glam rock or have an unusual ability to concentrate on the banal, I warn you that you may not be able to figure out what the incessant flashbacks and portrayal of debauchery is adding to the plot. I suspect I'm not alone is asking why you'd want to try?! By then end I didn't care if Christian Bale figured it out.

scared-of_girls I've actually been looking forward to seeing this film for a really long time, and finally got round to it this weekend. It should have been great! It had all the right ingredients; great cast, fabulous outfits, it's about GLAM ROCK for goodness sake! But alas, what this film was seriously lacking in was plot. Velvet Goldmine tells the tale of Brian Slade, a pop icon in the 1970s bearing an uncanny resemblance to David Bowie, whose career takes a severe nose-dive after he fakes his own death on stage. The picture revolves around a newspaper reporter ten years later (Who was once a fan of Brian Slade, and was at the gig of the 'shooting hoax'), assigned to find out 'exactly what happened'. What follows are an hour and a half of confusing and seemingly irrelevant flashbacks, poorly scripted and dull interviews, leading to a dull and fairly predictable finish. I should stress again that I am a big fan of both the Glam Rock era, and all of the actors in this film, so I didn't begin watching this film with any preconceptions of bad-ness. Worth a watch if you, like me, are usually into this kind of thing, but only so you can say that you've seen it, and perhaps for the cameo from Placebo (Probably the high-light). A generous five stars.

rap53 I saw this movie on Bravo so my comments are based on the edited cable version.A) I think this topic would have been better handled by a director who had lived and experienced this music and era in general as a teen-ager or young adult, unlike Haynes. The director seemed to be making queer theory political points wrapped in glitter rather than presenting an understandable epic of that epoch, probably leaving many heterosexual viewers out in the cold. The reference to Ronald Reagan ( President Reynolds in the movie) is one example. It is absurd to imply that Reagan was somehow responsible for the death of glam as it is for some gay activists to blame him for the spread of HIV. Nevertheless, I found the film enthralling both for the visuals and the recognizable historical figures and events B) I was somewhat connected to the rock scene of that time and to glam in particular so I think I have some insight to offer younger readers, although I am sure Haynes himself has more knowledge of gay history and "inside" glam gossip than myself.C)The "green pin" may combine both alien power as in the Green Lantern comic books that Haynes probably read as a child ( childhood is given strong play in the beginning ) and an icon of homosexual experience passed on from one time period to the next as expressed by Allen Ginsburg. Ginsburg once told of how ,through a series of sex partners going back in time, he was connected to Walt Whitman. Not exactly glam but he was a poet like Wilde, and Whitman's work is known for it's ethereal, pre-maturely modern tone as in "I sing the body electric" ( Alien Anal Probes anybody ? ). That poem was written over 20 years before anybody had electricity in their home. It was also the source of the title of a science-fiction story written by Ray Bradbury. Another film connecting UFO's,bohemian sex and alternative music is "Liquid Sky", which I am sure influenced Haynes.D) The Slade character is obviously based on Bowie, who came to be known to non-glam fans via his title role in the science-fiction movie " The Man who Fell to Earth" . Gay equals alienated equals "alien" may explain the UFO at the beginning. Bowie is much more talented than the Slade character whose vapidity and posing is similar to the now obscure real-life person known as "Jobriath", who like many who led the "drug,sex and rock'roll lifestyle" of the seventies died of AIDS in the 80s. Like Slade and Davie Jones/David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust, Jobriath also performed under a second stage name ( Cole Berlin ) Unlike Bowie but similar to Slade, Jobriath blamed his brief career on the failures of an egotistical manager.E) Ewan's Iggy stage performance was a great impersonation, almost comical in it 's accuracy.F) I could not figure out who Jack Fairy was based on but he reminded me of Klaus Noemi, whose cover of "You Don't Own Me" can still be heard on the Rush Limbaugh program.At last, an actual semiotic signifier that the Reaganites did co-opt glam !!!

Lechuguilla As music video (rock, glitter, glam,or whatever), parts of it might work. As a full-length feature film, none of it works. A film requires a story. There might be one here, but I couldn't find it.Even a visual fantasy needs some kind of structure, if for no other reason than to propel the fantasy forward. But this "film" seems to have multiple beginnings, a chaotic, nonsensical middle, and a non-resolution. Scenes are put together apparently in random order. Hey mister director guy, help us out here. Is this someone's idea of an inside joke? If so, I didn't find it amusing.None of the characters are worth caring about. They're all cardboard cutout dolls, stick-figure mannequins, two-dimensional caricatures. Self-proclaimed as artists, they're more flimflam than paragon. Maybe that's the point.The underlying concept is intriguing. A music star fakes his own death. What ever became of him? And so, the Christian Bale character goes on a Citizen Kane journey, of sorts. But all that glittery glam, or glam-glitter, gets in the way. We're lost in a phantasmagoria of colorfully bizarre images. Along the way we come to the conclusion that the "star" is so shallow, so immature, so unlikeable we lose interest in him and his destiny. The only message I got out of this cinematic mess was that mod music audiences are duped into thinking that image is reality. But that's hardly original. And I doubt that was the director's intent.Aimed at a pubescent crowd, "Velvet Goldmine" is hardly more than a flashy, moment-by-moment distraction. Lots of films, perhaps most, can deliver a higher quality, more mature form of distraction because they tell a coherent story that requires an attention span of greater than two microseconds.