Blu-ray Review: ‘Velvet Goldmine’ Sparkles Brighter Than Ever on Blu-ray

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CHICAGO – Similar in style, structure and ambition to his 2007 kaleidoscopic portrait of Bob Dylan, “I’m Not There,” Todd Haynes’s 1998 effort “Velvet Goldmine,” takes a hallucinogenic trip through the ’70s glam rock period reigned over by David Bowie. Yet instead of centering his tale on Bowie, Haynes explores the era’s impact through the eyes of a haunted observer.

The film is less dramatically satisfying but far more interesting than a straightforward biopic. Jonathan Rhys Meyers’s striking features fit perfectly into the role of Bowie clone Brian Slade, but he remains an enigmatic object of interest and desire throughout the picture. That’s because his life is viewed solely through the perspective of others, as investigative reporter Arthur (Christian Bale) attempts to piece together the mystery of Slade’s whereabouts ten years after the singer faked his own death onstage.

Blu-ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

On a superficial level, “Goldmine” borrows the formula of “Citizen Kane,” as Arthur learns more and more about Slade through the conflicting tales of his friends and lovers. Haynes pays blatant homage to Welles in the scene where he introduces the character of Slade’s ex-wife, (Toni Collette), whose face appears just as weathered as Kane’s ex, Susan. Yet “Goldmine” never attempts to contrive a “rosebud”-like explanation for Slade’s behavior. Instead, it unearths the intimate connection Arthur has to Slade’s music, and how it inspired the evolution of his own identity, which is observed through flashbacks. Mocked by his peers and condemned by his parents, the teenage Arthur emerges as the audience’s emotional anchor into Haynes’s glittering gallery of heightened memories and evocative imagery. Much of the film plays like a cinematic essay rather than a narrative, such as when Slade’s eventual obsession, Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor), channels Lou Reed’s view that it’s meaningless to claim, “Everyone is bisexual.” Haynes then abruptly cuts to a title card displaying the Norman Brown quote, “Meaning is not in things but in between them.” Casual viewers may feel baffled by Haynes’s intellectual discourse, but they are guaranteed to be dazzled by Maryse Alberti’s arresting cinematography and the vibrant smorgasbord of American and British hits on the knockout soundtrack.

Velvet Goldmine was released on Blu-ray on Dec. 13, 2011.
Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Wild is perhaps the most intriguing figure in the film, and McGregor’s concert performances are electrifyingly unhinged, particularly during his improvised nude scene (the script required Wild to merely moon the audience, but the actor took it to the next level). As a volatile fusion of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, Wild enters the film like a force of nature, and Haynes builds anticipation for his scenes with Slade. Unfortunately, their relationship is never adequately developed beyond a few lip smacks and recording studio meltdowns. Yet Haynes is less interested in the artists’ lives than he is with their legends and what they represented to the public. Just as Dylan consistently escaped the threat of mediocrity by changing his personas with exhilarating ease, Slade literally escaped his persona of “Maxwell Demon” by killing him off before a live audience. “Goldmine” is a heartfelt ode to the transformative power of art, and its ability to give generations of observers a vessel for self-expression.
 
“Velvet Goldmine” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio) and includes an excellent, hugely informative audio commentary from Haynes and producer Christine Vachon. Right at the beginning, Haynes confesses that he set out to provide “as thorough a recollection as I could muster” on the pop icons, locations and historic events represented in each scene. The glimmers of science fiction imagery scattered throughout the early sequences were meant to convey how glam rock was the first alignment of the alien and the homosexual in pop culture. The director dismisses claims that he projected his own intellectual ideas onto Bowie’s music, and argues that he merely reflected the ideas inherent in the artist’s work. During a particularly surrealistic sequence, Haynes quotes a Bowie interview where the singer notes that he wanted to work in a strange micro-world where the human element had been removed in favor of technology, thus allowing him to embody a “perfectly synthetic pop icon” in an experimental playground.

Though the film was originally intended to take place in three different eras, Haynes thought the glam rock portion would be rich enough for a standalone feature. As in “I’m Not There,” Haynes attempted to depict how pop culture effects our imaginations by giving “reality, fantasy and memory” equal weight throughout. Bowie himself criticized the film for looking too slick, and refused to have his music used by Haynes, thus forcing the filmmaker and music supervisor Randall Poster to search for lesser known tunes (Roxy Music members Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry were ideal choices). While Haynes has received much flak for his film’s lack of authenticity, he says that such criticisms miss the point entirely. It was always his intention to apply the principles of glam rock to his own film, thus making it a necessity to “dress up rather than down.” Ultimately, Haynes’s dream was to make “one of those strange drug movies” designed to be watched over and over (occasionally while stoned) and tirelessly analyzed for its meaning. Such a film is always best viewed on one’s home entertainment system, and the glitter in Haynes’s cult classic has never sparkled brighter and exuded more intrigue than it does on Blu-ray.

By MATT FAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com