150 Word Review: 'Velvet Goldmine' (1998)

Waiting in the sky

Photo: Miramax

Director Todd Haynes wanted to make a movie about David Bowie, but was unable to secure the rights to his iconic catalog. But did that stop him? Oh no, not at all. Velvet Goldmine is a glittering quasi-musical about glam rock excess featuring catchy, melodramatic pop songs by T. Rex, Lou Reed, and Roxy Music.

The plot borrows from Citizen Kane: a pouty journalist, played by Christian Bale, investigates the disappearance of the once hot gender-bending pop star Brian Slade. Bale has a secret, though: he was once obsessed with Slade. This leads to interviews with past loved ones and flashbacks to a funkier, flashier London.

Johnathan Rhys Meyers’ Slade is a moody and flamboyant elf-man. He glitters. Ewan McGregor is fabulous, as always, as a skinny Iggy Pop-inspired punk god. Toni Collette is Slade’s ex-wife, one of many casualties of his stardom. The costumes are outrageous, the queerness loud.

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