Velvet Goldmine Studio:
VCI / Film Four
Starring:
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Ewan McGregor
Toni Colette
Christian Bale		 Director:
Todd Haynes		 Regional code:
2		 Disc Format:
Single Sided, Dual Layer
Screenplay:
Todd Haynes		 Aspect Ratio:
16:9		 Anamorphic:
Yes
Year:
1998		 Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0		 Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Genre:
Music / drama
Extra disc featues:
25 minute documentary "Behind the Glam and the Glitter", theatrical and teaser trailers, photo library (printable on DVD ROM), Placebo's 20th Century Boy music track, animated menus		 Length:
118mins
   

Review of the DVD - rating: * * * 1/2

Review of the film - rating: *
This is a hugely ambitious disc from VCI, which sadly can't always fulfil its potential.

The image quality is very good though, showcasing some excellent cinematography. There are a few low level artefacts, which although they aren't remotely distracting, are surprising by their appearance on a 2 hour dual layer film. The layer switch is mid kiss between McGregor and Rhys Myers at around 70 minutes - a bit of a high profile place considering there's a mute still frame around 10 minutes later. The 5.1 sound is okay, but doesn't especially make use of the format or make the musical performances sound especially "live gig" realistic.

Behind the Glam and the Glitter is predictably full of cast and crew telling everyone how great they are, and cannot be navigated - you cannot fast forward, rewind or even stop (slapped wrists for the authoring house). Even more slapped wrists for the photo gallery - no matter how I tried on a Panasonic A100 or Hollywood Plus DVD ROM card, I couldn't access any cast members other than Jonathan Rhys Myers, and needed to use Windows Explorer on the DVD ROM to get at the rest of 'em. A shame, because Placebo's 20th Century Boy and some well edited visuals make a great front end for the gallery.

Still, there's far more here than in the average disc, which should please fans of the film - the colour booklet is packed full of info too, and is a welcome addition. It's a shame that the disc itself has the hallmarks of a bit of a rush job, but if glam is your thing, don't let it put you off.

 Inducing tedium to previously unknown levels, newspaper reporter Bale revisits his adolescence as he goes on the trail of 70's glam rock stars Rhys Myers and McGregor. Self indulgent series of tableaux and irritating "kitch" direction are in dire need of a story and interesting - as opposed to obnoxious - characters, and the film labours under the two misapprehensions that a) the early 70's were more musically interesting than punk and disco that came later, and that b) anyone would automatically rush to see a film with McGregor snogging blokes. Unless Glam rock really is your thing, rarely will 2 hours pass so slowly.

Whatever Todd Haynes was on while making this was far too expensive. Empire magazine's contention that Velvet Goldmine is the worst British music film since Absolute Beginners is hard to argue with.