STARDUST – “Makes the most of a David Bowie movie without David Bowie music”

stardust

RATING

DIRECTOR

Gabriel Range

STARRING

  • Johnny Flynn as David Bowie
  • Marc Maron as Ron Oberman
  • Jena Malone as Angie Bowie
  • Aaron Poole as Mick Ronson
  • Roanna Cocharne as Charlotte Banks

SYNOPSIS

Singer David Bowie reinvents himself as Ziggy Stardust while touring America to promote his new album The Man Who Sold the World.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Gabriel Range’s Stardust makes the most of a David Bowie movie without David Bowie music. What’s that, you were expecting to hear Space Oddity or at least Starman? Not in this film, as the Bowie estate did not approve of the movie and therefore did not provide access to the late singer’s rich music catalogue. Sure, we get a few “cover songs” that David sang during this time period, but it’s never enough to overcome the glaring musical omissions. So, if this isn’t a musical odyssey of one of rock’s true icons, what is it? Well, it’s a non-musical odyssey of one of rock’s true icons. Here, we get an admittedly interesting peak into the emerging glam rocker’s mindset as he fumbles his way through a disastrous US tour. Paired with an American publicist, the movie plays out as a “buddy film” of sorts with lots of predictable self-discovery along the way. Marc Maron and Johnny Flynn definitely do their parts well, and clearly have unique chemistry, but without Bowie’s music in the mix, well, it unfortunately adds up to very little. The movie’s big moment, where “Ziggy Stardust” emerges on stage for the first time, should have been a grandiose goosebump inducing sequence. Instead, it echoed the rest of the movie, and delivered nothing more than a giant “meh.”

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