Director Todd Haynes, who made the incredibly spare Safe and a biopic about Karen Carpenter with Barbie dolls, crams in everything--including the kitchen sink, all the washing-up and half the larder--as if terrified he'll never get another chance to shoot even a commercial again. The pacing drags like catwalk-queen's glittery taffeta train at times, but then glorious swooping musical numbers and clever bits of allusive business arrive that will brighten the day of many a pop-fan and film-buff. Never anything less than ruthlessly inventive and demanding of patience and an open mind, it's one for connoisseurs. Viewers who prefer easy-viewing eye candy are well advised to stick with fluff like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. --Leslie Felperin

Velvet goldmine. A prime example of art in cinema. This film, set in the 80's, is a rather hard to understand story in which two characters, (whole heartedly inspired by David Bowie and Iggy Pop), take us through the love, colour and exitement of the late 70's right through to the now.

The title of this film was an old David Bowie "B" record, that someone, somewhere was inspired by, thus coming up with this peice of cinema. It has a slight Wizard of Oz feel to the whole thing, Two people trying to find there Emerald city. The film experiments with old underground ledgends, such as Oscar Wilde, and of course David Bowie and co. The director tried to elaborate the feeling, the colours and the energy of the 80's so much in this film and it really shows, its beautiful! and inspiring. This film is witty, and in places slightly taboo, with parts some, closed minded people may not be able to understand. I would'nt say this is for the oldies as such, I think it much appeals to the younger generation interested in art and music, more than stealing and beating people up in the street.

And let's face it, it has to have the greatest cast of any underground/B movie ever made. Christian Bale (Batman begins), Ewan mcgreggor (Big Fish), Johnathan Rhys Myers, (Bend it like bekam) and Eddy Izzard, (The cats meow) oh and not forgetting Toni Collete (A japanese story). That is a line up to be proud of, in any film.

I advice youth's that don't seem to fit in, people that want more than action and CG in a film, artists and musicians, love obsessed infatuants and opend minded extroverts to see this, it really puts faith back in good old british movies.

Hollywood is'nt smart enough to come up with masterpeices like this. That's what makes this film so special.


Hot One   January 21, 2005
 4 out of 6 found this review helpful

A friend told me about this movie, and I knew instantly that I had to watch it. Now, I'm not old enough to remember glam rock, but I wish I were. In my opinion, this movie *is* glam rock, portraying if not exactly how it was, then definitely how it felt. There is something about this movie that makes it THE glam rock film, and even though I can't think of many people my age (17) who will agree, I think it is beautiful. The qoute applying best to this film is "Rock and roll is a prostitute. It should be tarted up, performed." And that is what VG does - it is music, it is glam, this movie is a prostitute. The world is changed because it is made of ivory and gold - at least my world is changed.


An interesting experiment is turned into a waste of time   November 9, 2004
 11 out of 18 found this review helpful

"For once, there was an unknown land, full of strange flowers and subtle perfumes; a land of which it is joy of all joys to dream; a land where all things are perfect and poisonous."

It will occur to most people who watch "Velvet Goldmine" that it is even more like "Citizen Kane" than "Eddie and the Cruisers," but this 1998 film is not even as good as the second of those two films. The story is set in 1984, when British newspaper reporter Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is investigating whatever happened to glam rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), who faked his "assassination" on stage back in the 1970s and then dropped from the music scene. Fortunately Stuart was a fan back at the beginning, when Slade was inspired by another singer, Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor). So director Todd Haynes takes us back and forth from the present to the past to try and put the pieces together.

The problem is that we never really care about the characters as much as we do about the music (Sandy Powell's Oscar nominated costume designs are actually more interesting than the characters). At least when Slade, Wild or anybody else is performing a song we get to enjoy the moment, but that just ends up being an argument for picking up the soundtrack instead of seeing the movie. Any assumption that Slade "is" David Bowie and Slade "is" Iggy Pop does not get you very far in terms of adding depth to the film, so it is just not worth pursuing, anymore than trying to figure out what the spaceship and young Oscar Wilde from the opening scene mean to the narrative.

The remaining line of analysis to try and find some substance to go with the glitter and style is to consider Slade to be some sort of glam philosopher. After all, he is given to epigrammatic pronouncements, such as "Rock and Roll is a prostitute, it should be tarted up." But then you hear him say things like, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person...Give him a mask and he'll tell you the truth," and you realize he's cribbing comments from Oscar Wilde (there are notions that Wilde is more than just the spiritual godfather of glam rock, but that is another aspect of the film that does not go anywhere worthwhile in the end. However, one epigram does serve as a fitting epitaph for "Velvet Goldmine," when it is rightfully observed that, "What started out as an interesting experiment has turned into a demeaning waste of time."


lost and confused   April 24, 2004
 5 out of 16 found this review helpful

there's the making of a good film in here, but it lost me on two counts. First, the editing is a shambles, making the storyline pretty ragged. Second, the sound is abysmal - it sounds like it's playing on a Dansettein the next room. A really messed up film.