Velvet Goldmine (1998)

VELVET GOLDMINE

Dir: Todd Haynes

Wife and I love this film. We always have interesting discussions as to the who’s representing who. That’s a Bowie, that’s a Lou, that’s Mick Ronson, that’s Curt Wilde being Iggy, that’s Angie Bowie, and… It goes on throughout the film. We also love to sing along. Every glam rock song is perfectly recreated for Goldmine’s soundtrack. For a fan of glam, this is the holy grail of rock movies. But even if you hate glam rock, which I don’t understand your musical tastes, you’ll still enjoy a rock version of Citizen Kane (1941).

Todd Haynes had everything riding on the fact that David Bowie would sign off on the project and he’d be able to create a bio-pic of sorts, but when Bowie didn’t agree to the salacious and queer material, Todd Haynes made a better film. Without the ties to reality, Haynes could leave narrative behind and dive directly into the glitz and glamour of early seventies British rock and roll. And give us amalgamated characters who aren’t perfectly parallel to their real life counterparts, but close enough.