Stardust

I'm obsessed with Bowie and I've also read many books about him. I'm actually glad, in a selfish way, that this movie has been panned critically because I went in expecting it to be terrible but it wasn't at all.

People need to get over the fact that the likeness isn't great ..the costumes, hair and makeup were very accurate.

Nobody looks and sounds like Bowie and I didn't expect to see that. The writers obviously know their stuff and are passionate about Bowie. There is plenty of great factually accurate moments mixed in there with the dramatic narrative. Much of it is beautifully shot with great care and attention to detail. In defence of the actor's portrayal and spoken voice not sounding like the Bowie we remember, this was a period where he was creating his identity and he actually did used to affect different speaking styles so this didn't bother me at all.

Bowie came to be known for his humour in later years, much of that isn't present in the film but I imagine that the whole first American tour was alienating for him (a central theme of his work) and this story does a great job of portraying that existential unease.

Real fans of Bowie's early career should not miss this. Those involved in making this film should be proud of it. The current IMDB score of 3.6 is outrageously unfair.

If I was giving the keys to direct a semi-true story about how David Bowie found his footing in the music world, I would never have taken this approach. What a buzz kills. You know you are going to get a slew of rabid Bowie fans to watch this; why make it look like Bowie is a stupid quack. I can't imagine much of this story is based on true events. Perhaps he had some struggles getting his music footing so don't spend 90% of the movie on that and leave your audience not excited about Bowie's rise to Fame; pun intended! There wasn't even any music or early tracks to hear even if they weren't big hits. This did try to paint a picture about Bowie's humble beginnings and how hard it was to reach stardom in America. And how he struggling to find himself in real life and trying to find who he truly is as an artist. It focused on his relationship with a publicist who believed that Bowie could be big in America. All solid points to build into a story. But the main problems were these: Zero character arc.

Zero enjoyment.

Zero Bowie music.

Zero new insights learned.

Who would choose to tell this story with a miniscule payoff or leave the fans excited to play some Bowie on the drive home?

The director and producer (rarely do I call out the producer) managed to make David Bowie uninteresting, flat and devoid of magic. I tinkled in a few rating points for cinematography, lighting and acting.

Terrible movie, Marc Bolan is a 60 year old woman in a black curly wig, Bowie looks like Noel Fielding's resurrected zombie twin. We couldn't watch it, turned it off about one third the way through, just dreadful.

Like an artist constrained to not use black and white in a painting the film's director has not used the music of it's heroic subject and just as the use of black and white is not necessary to make a painting so has the director found a way to make a film about a moment in Bowie's life without his music. Certainly we can harbor fantasies of a film where verisimilitude overwhelms us and all our rocknroll memories explode on screen. This is not that sort of film. So sorry for your loss. Stardust is a story of an apotheosis and one that did not come easily. Bowie was ignored by many in the early 70's including his record label. Many familiar characters spill across the screen and while you might gripe at Bolan or groan at Angie, Johnny Flynn's David Jones/Bowie is at times eerie as he emulates the shapes and features we associate with the man who sold the world. Not a perfect movie but Bowie came alive here at a time when still miss him. When Bowie played John Merrick on Broadway he wore no makeup and made no attempt to look like the famous Elephant Man and yet still carried the part to great acclaim. Kudos to director Gabriel Range for his choice of musician, somewhat acclaimed, Johnny Flynn to lead this thoughtful semi fictional look at where a Jones became a Bowie.

How can you have a David Bowie Biopic, and not have any of his music in the film?