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Velvet Goldmine (1998) is a British drama film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes set in Britain during the glam rock days of the early 1970s; it tells the story of the fictional pop star Brian Slade. Sandy Powell received a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. The film utilizes a non-linear structure to interweave the vignettes of the various characters.
Set in a dystopian, grey version of 1984, gay British journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is writing an article about the withdrawal from public life of 1970's bisexual glam rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and is interviewing those who had a part in the entertainer's career. As each person recalls their thoughts, it becomes the introduction of the vignette for that particular segment in Slade's personal and professional life.
Part of the story involves Stuart's family's reaction to his sexuality, and how the gay and bisexual glam rock stars and music scene gave him the strength to come out. Rock shows, fashion, and rock journalism all play a role in showing the youth culture of 1970s Britain, as well as the gay culture of the time.
Near the beginning of his career Slade is married to Mandy (Toni Collette). But when he comes to the U.S. he seeks out the gay American rock star Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor) and they become involved in each other's lives on a personal and creative level.
The vignettes show both Wild and Slade becoming increasingly difficult to work with as they become more famous. Wild and Slade, and other main characters, suffer breakdowns in both their personal and professional relationships. Eventually Slade's career ends following the critical and fan backlash from his on-stage publicity stunt where he faked his own murder.
As he gets closer to the truth of where Brian Slade is now, Stuart is told by his publisher that the story is no longer of public interest, and Stuart has now been assigned to the Tommy Stone tour. But Stuart is obsessed and continues searching out Slade. We discover that Stuart was also at the concert where Slade faked his own death, and that after seeing Wild perform, Wild and Stuart had a sexual encounter.
Eventually, Stuart discovers the true identity and whereabouts of Brian Slade, and once again encounters Wild as several mysteries are resolved.
The film centers on Brian Slade (Oscar Wilde.
The tale strongly parallels Bowie's relationships with Reed and Pop in the 1970s and 1980s. Brian Slade's gradually overwhelming on-stage persona of "Maxwell Demon" and his backing band, "Venus in Furs", likewise bear a resemblance to Bowie's persona and backing band. The album, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, tells a similar story of a rock star gone over the edge, and culminates in his assassination. As with Slade and Wild, Bowie produced records for, and with, both Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. The band name "Venus in Furs" is taken from a song by Lou Reed's early band, The Velvet Underground, which itself was taken from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novel by the same name, which appeared on their first album. Maxwell Demon was the name of an early band of Brian Eno, a long-time Bowie associate, whose music is heard at various points in the film.
Haynes has said that the story is also about the love affair between America and Britain, New York and London, in the way each music scene feeds off and influences each other.[4] Little Richard is shown as an early influence on Brian Slade. In real life Little Richard inspired the Beatles and Bowie, who in turn inspired many bands to come after. Little Richard has also been cited by Haynes as the inspiration for Jack Fairy.[4]
The film is strongly influenced by the ideas and life of Oscar Wilde (seen in the film as a progenitor of glam rock), and refers to events in his life and quotes his work on dozens of occasions. The work of Jean Genet (the subject of Haynes' previous film, Poison) is referred to in imagery and also quoted in dialogue.
The narrative structure of the film is modeled on that of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, in that reporter Stuart tries to solve a mystery about Slade, traveling around to interview Slade's lovers and colleagues, whose recollections are shown in 1950s, 1960s and 1970s flashback sequences.[5]
Velvet Goldmine received mixed reviews from critics. [7] In a less enthusiastic review, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars and found its plot too discursive and confusingly assorted because of how it "bogs down in the apparatus of the search for Slade" by clumsily using scenes from Citizen Kane.[8] David Sterritt from The Christian Science Monitor wrote “The music and camera work are dazzling, and the story has solid sociological insights into a fascinating pop-culture period.” [1]
The film wasn't successful at the box office, making just $1.5m on a budget of $9m. It currently holds a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 41 reviews.
In a retrospective review, Slant Magazine's Jeremiah Kipp gave Velvet Goldmine four out of four stars and said that, although unsupportive critics may be "terrified of a movie with so many ideas", the film successfully shows a "melancholic ode to freedom, and those who fight for it through art", because of Haynes' detailed imagery and the cast's "expressive, soulful performances".[9] Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club felt that Haynes' appropriation of structural elements from Citizen Kane is the film's "masterstroke", as it helps "evoke the glam rock movement without destroying the all-important mystique that sustains it." Tobias argued that, like Haynes' Bob Dylan-inspired 2007 film I'm Not There, Velvet Goldmine deals with a famously enigmatic figure indirectly through allusion and imagery, and consequently succeeds more than a simpler biopic could.[10]
Since its 1999 DVD release the film has become a cult classic[11] and "has found an obsessive following among younger audiences."[12] Haynes said in a 2007 interview, "A film that had the hardest time, at least initially, was Velvet Goldmine, and it's the film that seems to mean the most to a lot of teenagers and young people, who are just obsessed with that movie. They're exactly who I was thinking about when I made Velvet Goldmine, but it just didn't get to them the first time around."[13] The Blu-ray disc version of the film was released in Region A on 13 December 2011, and includes a newly recorded commentary track by director Todd Haynes and producer Christine Vachon. In it Haynes thanks the fansites for helping him compile the notes for the commentary.[14]
Although the character of Brian Slade is heavily based on David Bowie, Bowie himself disliked the script[17] and vetoed the proposal that his songs appear in the film.[18] However, as producer of Lou Reed's 1972 Transformer album, his backing vocals (mainly consisting of "bum-bum-bum"s and "ooh-ooh"s) can be heard on "Satellite of Love".
The finished soundtrack includes songs by glam rock and glam-influenced bands, past and present.
The English musicians who played under the name The Venus in Furs on the soundtrack were Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, David Gray, Suede's Bernard Butler, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. The American musicians who played as Curt Wild's Wylde Ratttz on the soundtrack were The Stooges' Ron Asheton, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley, Minutemen's Mike Watt, Gumball's Don Fleming, and Mark Arm of Mudhoney.
The soundtrack features new songs written for the film by Pulp, Shudder to Think and Grant Lee Buffalo,[19] as well as many early glam rock compositions, both covers and original versions. The Venus in Furs covers several Roxy Music songs with Thom Yorke channeling Bryan Ferry on vocals,[19] Placebo covers T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," Wylde Ratttz and Ewan McGregor cover The Stooges' "T.V. Eye" and "Gimme Danger", and Teenage Fanclub and Donna Matthews cover the New York Dolls' "Personality Crisis." Lou Reed, Brian Eno, T. Rex, and Steve Harley songs from the period are also included. The album is rounded out by a piece of Carter Burwell's film score.
All three members of the band Placebo also appeared in the film, with Brian Molko and Steve Hewitt playing members of the Flaming Creatures (Malcolm and Billy respectively) and Stefan Olsdal playing Polly Small's bassist.
A more extensive selection of music was used for the movie soundtrack.
Elvis Presley, Duncan Jones, Brian Eno, Lou Reed, Industrial music
U2, Coldplay, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Norah Jones
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Rock music, Ray Charles
Bob Dylan, Coen brothers, David Bowie, Bard College, Ang Lee
Punk rock, Rock music, David Bowie, United Kingdom, Rock and roll
But I'm a Cheerleader, American Beauty (1999 film), Brokeback Mountain, Transgender, All About My Mother
Newcastle upon Tyne, Authority control, The Full Monty, Velvet Goldmine, Ben Affleck
Belgium, David Bowie, Brussels, Dundee, Serge Gainsbourg
Edith Head, Charles LeMaire, United Kingdom, Irene Sharaff, Milena Canonero