Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Load of rubbish!!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I really loved this film. I think that it is really underrated. Every character had their own story that you could see through the plot. The outfits were very cool and enchanting. The music is actually one of my favorite things about this movie.The only thing I did not like about this film was the back and forth to the past and future. It seemed a little too out of place sometimes. I would of rather just watched what happened in the 70s then at the end it jumps to the future where we find out Arthur is doing an article on Brian Slade and what happened to him. Something like that, something that wasn't so back and forth.

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.

I think the core issue that divides people on Velvet Goldmine is a sort of 'you had to have been there...or at least wanted to be there' state of mind. Some simply won't get it, but if you look at the stars and see possibility, hunger after a moment in the limelight and the chance to brush up against something weird, mysterious and wonderful, just for a moment...then this movie is meant for you.I came into the world too late for the actual age of glam...it was all over long before I got there, but Arthur (Christian Bale) remains a strange parallel to my own memories of coming of age, coming out, and falling in love with and deep into a music scene that altered and enriched my life with experiences that might never have been had elsewhere. The soundtrack of my life might have played a bit differently, but the altrock/goth/industrial/punks at the end of the 80s and dawn of the 90s had their outrageous characters, and the descendants from glam rock were present in the pageantry and showmanship, the fabulous and the profane...so like the emerald brooch...the torch had been passed person to person, era to era, artist to artist...until something like that moment of wonder impacted against my life too.So when I watch this movie, despite loving the references to stars of the 70s punk and glam scenes, and enjoying the music and costumes and characters immensely, my attention always returns to Arthur Stuart, who also brushed against something powerful, wonderful, dangerous and strangely sacred for just a little while...and has never been the same since. Enjoy it...it's a fine film, well shot and with superb acting...but if I can add one other piece of advice...get out there and brush up against something wonderful of your own.

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 !!!