After renting Velvet Goldmine on video, my only regret is that I didn’t have the opportunity to view this intelligent piece of serious eye candy on the big screen. Writer/director Todd Haynes has delivered a giddy fable of identity (sexual and otherwise) using the dizzying period of the 70’s glamrock scene.
From the opening scene of an alien spaceship delivering a baby Oscar Wilde to the Earth, you know that this is going to be a psychedelic trip. Christian Bale plays reporter Arthur Stuart who is assigned to do a sort of Behind The Music piece on Brian Slade, a Bowie-like star that had faked his own assassination a decade before. Haynes masterfully cuts from present day London to the recollections of the Slade associates who Stuart interviews.
It is the kind of wild ride that bounces from stark reality to fanciful music videos, concert scenes and fantasy sequences without ever seeming forced or contrived. The costuming is the most garish and outlandish since Priscilla Queen Of The Dessert. And, the rampant drug use, orgiastic parties and piles of naked flesh will have you feeling like you need to check into Betty Ford.
The real gem here, though, lies in the casting. This is the best ensemble of 1998:
Jonathan Rhyes Meyers delivers on the potential that he showed in the dreary Minie Driver vehicle, The Governess with a liquid performance as Slade. His baby doll face and luscious lips shift from a delicate kiss to a demonic snarl with lightning ease. He’s one of the few actors that I can picture pulling off the myriad of wacked-out costume, makeup and hair changes required for the role. In fact, instead of looking laughable, he looks downright hot.
Toni (Muriel’s Wedding) Collette also uses her chameleon-like abilities to inhabit any role. She transforms herself in the story from naïve partygirl, to outrageous hedonist and finally to jaded survivor. Her scenes in present day are some of the most subtle and riveting acting she has done in her illustrious career.
Of course, many people will rent the film for Ewan McGregor. His Curt Wild is clearly patterned after Iggy Pop. Let me tell you, I saw Iggy a couple of weeks ago at Music Midtown, and Ewan McGregor is dead on. And, as is common with this upcoming star of Episode 1 he treats us all to a good long view of his light saber.
This story, though, is really about Stuart. In his own flashbacks, Bale looks disturbingly like Ben Stiller in There’s Something About Mary. (He even has an awkward masturbation scene.) Stuart’s present day young professional bears little resemblance to the confused teen that comes to light in his surfacing memories. In fact, even he seems to have forgotten this former self. It is his investigation into this crucial time that awakens the truth about who he was, who he is today and how he came to be.
Whether or not you were touched by the 70’s glamrock scene, this basic human search for self will resonate with nostalgia. I began viewing this film as a colorful history piece and found myself profoundly moved by the universal themes that is so audaciously conveys.
Rating: 
