Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (2023)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I have absolutely no idea what movie the vast majority of commenters were watching... For a start, Pennebaker's style of documentary is grainy and gritty through *choice* not "amateurism". It's called REALISM. I first saw "Ziggy" in a movie theatre in Germany and was completely blown away by its energy and freshness. I think it's a sad state of affairs that modern audiences are so dulled by CGI and DVD extras, that they can't appreciate a mind-blowing piece of cinema verite like this. This movie captures all of the sweat, hysteria and sheer balls of Bowie's final performance as Ziggy Stardust, and it's incredible.

In 1973, David Bowie return to the UK from a success world tour. July 3rd was to be his final show in the personae of Ziggy Stardust, playing alongside the Spiders From Mars. Thousands of fans crammed into the London venue to watch the great man go out on a high. Of course, it would have helped if the film crew had had more money, more technology or, dare I say it, more skill at their disposal, because, as a concert film this is a pretty grainy affair to watch.I should start on the good first I guess. The music is great and fans will not be disappointed with the delivery and the capturing of it. It all sounds great and, although I know others have talked about the use of miming, I must admit I was too into it to really care. As someone who falls into a later generation, I was never going to get a chance to see Bowie in concert at this stage of his career, so this my best chance to get to see it so, on that level it is worth a look. I enjoyed it because of the music but, as a film, I must admit finding it very hard to watch, preferring at some stages to get on with something else while just listening to the songs.Visually, it is a mess. The images are very blurred and grainy, an effect not helped by the lighting throughout the show. The couple of cameras offer a limited amount of shots and I didn't think any of them did a good job of capturing the atmosphere of the gig; and no, showing me screaming teens didn't cut it on its own. The chance to see the costumes and stage presence of Bowie made me keep watching but it is hard to ignore just how very amateurish the footage feels. I was able to forgive to some degree due to the lighting and the period it was shot in, but it is still hard to ignore the problems when they are constantly present – blurrily staring at me from my screen.Overall the music saves it, making it well worth a look for anyone with more than a passing interesting in the music of David Bowie. It seems to have been a great show and it must have been memorable to have been in the audience, but you wouldn't know it from Pennebaker's footage. Sadly the lighting has left the footage looking blurry, while the mobile nature of the cameras means that it is all shaky and regularly has a bad view as its best view. Still worth seeing but it does need your forgiveness at times.

This is a great concert film. Bowie is in his absolute prime and Pennebaker captures the moment. The film makes you you feel like you are actually at the concert not watching a movie. Bowie has never been better. This film is a moment in time.

Bowie is clearly enjoying himself here, although today he claims to find this record of the Spiders final show unwatchable. The costuming IS spectacularly dated and Ziggy's antics do more to camp up a storm than forewarn of an imminent apocalypse. Aside from the music though, there is more going on here than silly, decadent posturing. Backstage musings by Bowie are suggestive of why he is not merely a relic from a past era: there is inherent tension between the public persona and the demand to discover the "real" Bowie. Rock music has since split into 2 positions along these lines: for the most part, the English traditions of camp and irony have served as a distancing device from the demands of an "authentic" self which can impose on others in an intrusive way- Jewel's folk music/"Knight Without Armor" is merely the latest manifestation of the latter tendency (also, despite the hatred of hippies, Nirvana ironically shared their "no hang ups" philosophy in their "Come As You Are" period). Ziggy was, at the time, the most extreme movement away from the "authenticity" of Woodstock Nation in which there was nothing separating the performer and the audience...been an "alien being" also guaranteed a spectacular show for record buyers who may otherwise have had little interest in live music given the high fidelity improvements in recording technology and home sound systems which were starting to become available. It is the irresolvable tension between these two tendencies toward camp/authentic which helps generate the excitement of the audience captured in this film, and which can still inspire interest and enjoyment today.