Velvet Goldmine

(Miramax)

Along with taking its name from an obscure Bowie tune, Todd Haynes's rock drama is inspired by the rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the glammiest of all of David Bowie's many mutations. After hinting that Bowie may be a time-traveling Oscar Wilde, the film turns into postmodern Citizen Kane. Brian Slade, who, give or take some eyeshadow, is Bowie, serves as this film's Charles Foster Kane; Arthur Stuart (played by Christian Bale) is the reporter digging through a murky past to uncover the truth about him. Like glam rock itself, the film doesn't bother with heavy character or plot development -- which makes Velvet Goldmine more compelling as rock criticism than as entertaining cinema.