Velvet Goldmine (1998)

The critic describes the film as an unconventional, imaginative, and experimental work that reveals more about its subject than a straightforward telling could. It is called one of the year's freshest and most exciting films despite occasional threats from its ambition.

Janet Maslin praises Todd Haynes's dazzlingly surreal film as a celestial ode to the heyday of British glitter rock and David Bowie's early 1970s persona. She highlights its operatic storytelling, visual sensuality, and reimagining of the glam-rock era as a world of theatricality and sexual possibility, structured like a rock Citizen Kane.

The film is a witty, evocative re-creation of glam rock structured like Citizen Kane, with a journalist investigating a Bowie-like star's staged assassination. It blends film à clef elements, celebration of pan-sexual liberation, and Haynesian themes of transgression and identity, delivered with superb craft and inventive flair.

The critic praises Haynes' 1998 film as a glittery, fun love letter to glam rock, evolving sexuality and the weight of the past, packed with pop-culture references, strong performances and a superb soundtrack that fills the Bowie-shaped hole.

Haynes's valentine to glam rock adopts its styles with wit, ingenuity and exuberance in a Citizen Kane-ish investigation of a rock idol's past that also explores the journalist's selfhood. It features strong performances and a lush, rousing soundtrack celebrating glam's idealism and nostalgia.

Kenneth Turan calls the film a dazzling and dizzying feverish dream of pop decadence that showcases Haynes's showy visual sense and flair for playing with film. He notes it is best at spotlighting these strengths while sometimes having more on its mind than it can successfully handle.

The critic calls Velvet Goldmine a rollicking good ride thanks to its haunting, colorful images and strong performances. Haynes is praised for viewing glam rock as an expressive art form for outsiders, with the film also capturing the emotions tied to cultural change.

The critic calls Velvet Goldmine a flawed but still compelling masterpiece and a glittering, overreaching homage to 1970s glam rock that mixes Bowie, Iggy Pop, Citizen Kane and Oscar Wilde elements. He notes its commercial disappointment and production issues but praises its audacious celebration of fakery, artifice and sexual experimentation.

The film is a confusing mix of approaches that fails to cohere into a compelling story about the glam-rock scene or its central character. Ebert praises the stage performances and evocation of the era but criticizes the borrowed structure from Citizen Kane and lack of focus.

Todd Haynes's glam-rock homage feels camper and more biographical than the real 1970s scene, delivering a formless, over-the-top music-biz fantasy with a Citizen Kane-style structure. It singles out Eddie Izzard's wardrobe and performance for praise amid the excess.

The review describes the film as technically masterful but emotionally cold and more fantasy than history. It notes the polarised reactions and leaves the final judgment to the reader.

The review finds the film constantly imaginative and stylistically lively but dramatically inert, with an arresting first half that bogs down due to multilayered storytelling. It praises technical achievements like camerawork, production design, and costumes while noting performances are functional rather than deep.

The critic finds the film a misguided mess that fails to capture the glamour of its era and instead delivers a ridiculous, clunky fiction. The one standout element praised is the performance of Toni Collette as Mandy.

The critic praises Haynes' bold, non-linear approach that captures the essence of 1970s glam rock through unreality and sexuality rather than conventional biopic storytelling. Standout performances from Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Toni Collette are highlighted for bringing the era's allure, chaos, and illusion to life.

The critic appreciates Velvet Goldmine as a dense, playful, and inventive faux-biopic that uses the Citizen Kane structure to explore glam rock, pan-sexuality, and its cultural rise and fall. The infectious soundtrack (period tracks and modern covers) and strong performances, especially Ewan McGregor’s, are highlighted as standout elements.