Velvet Goldmine [Region 2] |  | Director: Todd Haynes
Actors: Ewan Mcgregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Christian Bale, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard
Category: DVD
Buy Used: $39.97
Used (2) from $39.97
Rating:  271 reviews
Sales Rank: 256262
Format: Anamorphic, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014138036768
ASIN: B00004CYF6
Theatrical Release Date: November 6, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Todd Haynes, ever unpredictable, follows up his experimental trilogy Poison and his restrained Safe with this flamboyant study in glam rock through the kaleidoscopic lens of Citizen Kane. Christian Bale plays Arthur Stuart, a reporter sent to investigate the legend of rock legend and bisexual pop icon Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a not-so-thinly veiled David Bowie), who disappeared a decade ago after staging his own mock assassination. But Arthur is flooded with memories of his own adolescence as he interviews Slade's friends and business associates, peeling back the layer of makeup and spangles that was the model of rebellion for a generation of middle-class British kids and discovering a hollow center. Ewan McGregor almost steals the film as the punk pioneer Curt Wild (equal parts Iggy Pop and Kurt Cobain), the genuine article to Slade's calculated, coifed image of glitter stardom. Haynes's film lacks nothing in capturing the flamboyance and spectacle of the era with flashy filmmaking and kitschy costumes, and if the plot seems lost in the preening and visual fireworks, perhaps that's the point: behind the facades and manufactured fronts is nothing but glitter, energy, and a beat. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 266 more reviews...
 Velvet Goldmine March 22, 2009
S. Ashley (Sacramento, CA USA)
I love this movie and, even though I've watched it numerous times, I can't get enough of it!!! If you love '70s glam rock, you'll love this film!!! I also highly recommend the soundtrack, which I also purchased. Enjoy!!!
It was called "Glitter Rock" February 6, 2009
Vampyrikus (CA)
This was an entertaining enough movie. the Highlight being the performance by Curt Wylde, singing "TV Eye". And for the record. That 70's era was referred to as "Glitter Rock" NOT Glam. Glam was the mid 80's. With horrible bands like Poison, Warrent, Trixter, Slaughter etc...
 Horrible and seriously, what was the point? January 26, 2009
PDX Mom (Portland, OR)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm open-minded and come from a punk background. I kept waiting for this movie to get better and hoping for some kind of plot to wrap my head around. I personally thought neither came to fruition. Most of the music was awesome and was a reprieve from the rest of the movie. I am sad that I lost 2 hours of my life watching this pointless movie. As far as the music, I'll just put on my T-Rex and Bowie CDs and enjoy those instead.
 Beautiful and Entertaining November 19, 2008
nina
I was surprised because I don't usually like these types of flashy films but I enjoyed Velvet Goldmine. It's an intense yet relaxing film that you can watch without having to actually think. It's hard to explain but this film actually takes you in so far that you'll question if your sober or high. The set is amazing, the custumes are shocking, the actors are dazzling and the stage performances are wonderful. VG does have some problems though. The plot is loose and there are some slow parts put in for filler. This is not a film for everyone and certainly not for kids or teens. If you are offended by drug use, homosexuality, drag queens, men who challenge society's idea of sexuality, obscenity and male frontal nudity then do not watch this film. Anyone else should enjoy.
excellent movie and retrospective on a time, scene and place.. September 5, 2008
O. francis (PA, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I didnt know about this movie(or it missed me somehow), I acutally saw it a day ago on the IFC channel on cable, I was blown away. Admittedly not of that generation or movement (actually born just as it probably got started).
I do recall as a young boy growing up in London during the late 70's "this stuff" being on the radio, like many things it took my growing into adulthood and perhaps being nostalgic for a time period I sailed through in complete oblivion to have a appreciative look back. As a guy whos musical genre leanings dont tend to lean in this direction there are a number of true musical gems that this movie brought to my attention.
Again, being older, more open-minded and mature, I felt like I truly was able to look at this with fresh and open eyes...and loved it. The hype, the theatricality, the indulgences, the lows, the highs, the abandonment. An almost filling journey, I probably need to watch it again (which is why I'm gonna buy it from Amazon).
As a kid I remember the joy I felt when the 70's transitioned to the 80's and when my mother could no longer find 'flares' (what we in the UK called bell bottoms) and the trend moved over to the 'pencil leg' trouser. I hated the polyester, paisley, mini-fro, big-collared shirts, platform shoes...I mean I was a kid 9 or 10 yrs old but distinctly remember hating what I was forced to wear so my personal lamenting of the passing of the 70's is not so much.
I look back and years later learn that there was a scene and movement associated with all this 'gaudiness' that I didnt understand. Youth, pop and a sort of bastard child of the London crew morphing the US Hippy movement, dying Mod(ernists) and the highly commercialized pop scene. (or thats the way I see it, I always thought the hippies looked and felt distinctly out of place in London as opposed to the newer, wider more expansive spaces and aggreable weather of California...not that I fully understand the hippy scene either..again too young for that thing).
I cant help but look at this and think on Gary Glitter (still trying to live the dream alas..), Bay City Rollers, TRex. Watching 'top of the pops' and being totally confused by the theatre, costume and androgeny and lip-synced performances...Watching this movie I felt like I understood it. As a younger guy why a 'boy' would want to look like a 'girl' utterly escaped me, androgeny or it's appeal was a multisyllabled word that had little meaning or understanding to me. Boys looking like girls, wearing tight outfits, crazy platformed shoes and makeup just was so alien to me. Theatre, fantasy, alter-ego, alternative ways of living, gender-bending was just over the head of a kid my age.
This great movie had me revisit some pretty frikken decent music and offered an entre into a time and scene that I didnt understand and it performed superbly in that. Besides that it is simply a great movie with a stellar cast and certainly worth owning.
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