Make It Shine

Velvet Goldmine was a spectacle that was like a news story unfolding before our eyes as every new bit of information came to light about what really happened to the fictional rock and roll superstar, Brian Slade. The film was all about Arthur Stuart, a British journalist, being tasked to write a story about where Slade is now by his boss. Stuart’s investigation brings up past memories that he seems to have repressed or tried to forget altogether. As the film goes on, we find out that Slade and the rise of glam rock in general was a big part of Stuart’s past life because this was what gave him the confidence and comfortability to come out about his own sexual orientation to his parents. With the investigation on Slade’s life goes on, we learn about his rise to fame and the bonds he formed with different people during this time such as Curt Wild and Jack Fairy. The film ends with Stuart finding out what actually happened to the person who was once known as Brian Slade, even though he did not write a story about this anymore. What I liked the most about the film is how it shows the power that fame can get a person and how hard it is to deal with the responsibilities of someone as well known as Brian Slade and Curt Wild. In the film, we see the sudden rise to fame of Slade, and they show how much followers and fans he garnered in a pretty short time because of his eccentric and quirky personality. Couple this with his artistic talents and creativity, it is no shock that so many people looked up to, or even idolized, Slade. Sadly, for Slade, he did not handle all of these things the right way, and instead, he let his success go to his head and decided to push the envelop more and more by coming up with more out-of-the-box ideas which ended with him becoming infamous after faking his own death during one of his concerts. All in all, I think Velvet Goldmine is a movie that is worth while to watch because it gives the audience an engaging experience that feels like a detective trying to solve a mystery while also mixing this with the musical aspect of glam rock during the 1970s that would keep fans of rock, and even music in general, entertained enough as to not get bored with the pacing of the film. Another note worthy aspect of the film is how it only reveals snippets of information about the life of Brian Slade, and the way they choose when to let the audience know certain information was perfectly timed to help the development of the plot as well as the pace of the film itself to build the mystery factor of the movie. Personally, I thought that I would easily get while watching this film when I read a short overview of the film prior to viewing it, but surprisingly, I was entertained throughout the duration of the whole movie and it is a movie I would recommend to other movie lovers.