Screen

David Bowie has made many, many film and television appearances over the decades, from starring roles to cameos. This will not be an exhaustive collection of his roles and appearances, but the ones I do encounter and write about on this journey will be curated here. 

  • The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)
  • Just a Gigolo (1978)
  • Christiane F. (1981) 
  • Baal (1982)
  • Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) 
  • Labyrinth (1986)
  • The Linguini Incident (1991) 
  • Basquiat (1996)

(Until I figure out how to hyperlink within this page, you'll just have to scroll down. That's super annoying and I'm sorry.)

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)



I watched this film a few months ago and I've been wiffling and waffling on whether or not I was going to write about it here. On one hand, it absolutely deserves to be included in The Bowie Project. But I don't want to do a critical review... I don't know what I can say about it that hasn't already been said. It has a cult following and a good rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Lots of people like it. 

There are many things about it that I liked, for instance, the cinematography and art direction. Bowie's acting is understated and mostly quite good, except for a few moments here and there... generally he seems to falter in the high-conflict scenes that involve fighting or struggling or defending himself. But I guess you could make the argument that when you're as frail and out-of-it as his character is supposed to be, he's not going to have much fight in him.

There are also some things about that I didn't particularly enjoy, namely some of the acting (I'm coughing in your direction, Candy Clark), some really choppy editing, and seeing Rip Torn naked.

Overall, I'm glad I watched it.

Adapted from the novel by Walter Tevis, the story is intriguing enough, but the film moves in such a way that leaves some pretty gaping plot holes. Um, how exactly do you have a British passport Mr. Newton? Didn't you just fall to earth like 5 minutes ago? A lot of willing suspension of disbelief is expected of the viewer. If you can't get past things like that, you'll probably not get too far into the film before switching it off.

You can view the original trailer here.

*** SPOILER ALERT***

The story is essentially this: Thomas Jerome Newton (Bowie) is a humanoid alien who comes to earth in search of water to save his dying planet. He's a highly intelligent inventor who is knowledgeable about engineering. But he's also extremely dehydrated and fragile. Dude can't seem to get enough water. To save his planet, he starts a company on earth to make and sell his inventions, eventually earning enough money to build his space ship to go home, taking water with him I assume, or an invention that will help make water on his planet, or maybe just to get his wife and kids and bring them back to earth... it's never really explained.

This all sounds like a great plan except that he meets Mary-Lou, a housekeeper at the hotel where he checks in, and things kind of derail. She falls for him at first sight - he passes out in the elevator and she actually carries him to his room. Now that is some EXCEPTIONAL customer service right there. Having worked in a hotel, I can tell you that I've carried a lot of luggage to guests' rooms; I've never carried a guest. I mean Newton, aka "Tommy" probably doesn't weigh much more than she does (seriously Bowie, eat a sandwich in 1975, will you?) but still.

Mary-Lou sort of takes Tommy under her wing and he moves in with her. They begin a romantic relationship. He carries on with his plans but unfortunately, Mary-Lou's kind of a drunk, and he ends up developing a taste for gin himself. And he gets addicted to TV. He watches like 15 of them at once. His addictions start to take their toll.

Eventually, his secret is discovered and a team of scientists kidnap him before he's supposed to launch his space ship, and they do experiments on him. They keep him sedated by giving him unlimited quantities of booze and all the TV he can handle. He doesn't even realize he can leave via the front door anytime he likes, he's so out of it.

Mary-Lou finally finds him in his captive state and they have kinky sex while shooting an unloaded gun at each other. Afterwards, they reveal that they don't love each other and she leaves. Tommy leaves the facility of his own volition upon learning that the front door is unlocked. Um, yeah, ok.

 Tommy ends up alone, stranded on earth, suffering from his addictions, attempting to send messages to his family back home through music he recorded that might get played on the radio and get picked up by them back on their planet. Why he can't use his space ship to go home once he escapes his captors, I have no idea, except maybe he's just too blitzed to drive it. Haha.

Unfortunately, he doesn't know his family has perished in the drought.

Yep, super happy ending.

All in all, I'd say this film is worth watching if you like arty movies and you don't mind when imagery and story elements are abstract or vague. It would also help if gratuitous male nudity isn't a problem for you.

Just a Gigolo (1978)




I said I wasn't going to watch this movie, and then I did anyway. Sort of. I watched it on youtube, clip by clip, not necessarily in the correct order, with bits and pieces missing, so really, you could just say I browsed through it, lol. But I have to admit, a couple of days after watching the first part of this clip where David Bowie is walking around dressed as a giant beer, I wanted to know what happened.

It wasn't a good movie, but it wasn't a total waste of time, either. For the most part, it was actually pretty amusing and made me smile in more than a few places. It's hard to tell if it was meant to be a comedy or not. I think that's probably the main problem with the film - it's funny all the way through, and then ***SPOILER ALERT*** David Bowie's character dies and his body gets used for the Nazi agenda, which is not funny at all. Kind of hard to classify a story like that.

Here's the plot: Paul von Przygodski (Bowie) is a Prussian soldier who joins WWI like five minutes before it's over, and manages to get nearly blown up anyway. He wakes up in a French hospital and they celebrate his return to consciousness with a party (why?) and then kick him out of the hospital when they find out he's from Germany. He takes a train to Berlin, riding in a train car with livestock, so he steals a pig, presumably for food, but maybe for a pet, because damn that's a cute pig. Laugh out loud moment: Paul arrives in Berlin and hungry Berliners swarm him licking their lips, ogling his pig, and he backs away, crying "Go away, find your own pig!". Comedy gold, right there.

Paul apparently has no skills, so he ends up working a series of crappy jobs, including a Turkish bath where his mother works, and advertising beer (hence the beer costume). He's shocked to find out a beautiful woman he encounters is a lady of the night, accepting money in return for her companionship, but this obviously makes an impact on him because he eventually ends up becoming one of Marlene Dietrich's band of merry (or not so merry, in Paul's case) gigolos. Paul is the most serious male escort on the planet. He smiles exactly two and a half times in the entire movie.

Meanwhile, a gregarious young woman named Cilly (Sydne Rome) is trying to get into his pants and he resists her with an iron will. He also encounters his Captain from the war who turns out to be part of the Nazi uprising and is trying to get Paul to join. He doesn't, despite repeated attempts by the Captain.

There is a scene in a princely mansion where Cilly finally beds Paul and afterwards he takes a bath in the princely mansion bathroom, only to be interrupted by the prince himself. They have a ridiculous conversation and Paul loses his grip on the soap, which flies out of his hand. The prince stabs the soap with this cane and returns it to Paul, who is bathing in water so soapy it's opaque, lucky for him, and necessary for the film's rating.

Cilly wants to marry Paul, but he's committed to his single status for his new career, so she marries the old prince. Then Paul gets killed in a street battle between the Communists and the Nazis and the Nazis steal his body and dress him up in a Nazi uniform and tell his mother he was one of them.

That's the main storyline, but there are other storylines that interweave throughout, like the one involving Kim Novak, which I won't get into, because it bored/annoyed me (the off-tone funeral scene is particularly bad). Oh! Except his dad. His dad is sitting catatonic in the same chair in the whole movie, looking terrified, and Paul goes to speak to him throughout the movie, and dad just sits there, frozen. Hilarious. Anyway, despite the ridiculous story, the film is set against a gorgeous backdrop made to look like 1920's Berlin. I actually thought it was shot quite beautifully, with interesting camera angles, stunning lighting, and exquisite locations and sets. I'm particularly enamoured with the composition of this scene, where Paul and Cilly are speaking privately on her princely wedding night, shortly after getting it on (yeah, he's her gift to him from the prince), moments before Paul is killed:



The writing isn't spectacular, and the acting is spotty - Bowie is mostly alright, except the seriousness with which he plays Paul is a bit unnerving at times. Sydne Rome is adorable and she reminds me a lot of Rosanna Arquette's character Lucy in The Linguini Incident (which I haven't written about yet, but I will). Sadly, Marlene Dietrich is the worst thing about this movie. She phones it in (literally - apparently her scenes were shot off set and stitched in to the movie) and I couldn't endure her entire performance of the song Just a Gigolo - I cringed so hard during the first 20 seconds that I forwarded through it. 

It may sound cheesy coming from me, but Bowie is the best thing about this movie. He has good comedic timing and I think he acts the role quite well. But mostly, he just looks really, really good in the film. Like, really good. I'm not typically one to get all gushy about attractive film and music stars, but I will say that in this film he is rather visually appealing... enough to motivate me to watch all of the clips. Worth it just for that, lol.

Christiane F. (1981)



I'm home sick from work today, so I got myself all comfy on the couch with a cup of coffee and decided to watch Christiane F. The jury's still out on whether or not that was a good idea. I'm still wiping the tears away. It's only a little after 3:00 pm and I'm going to be alone in my apartment thinking about it for a least a few hours before my boyfriend comes home. So I thought maybe I should write about it while it's still fresh in my mind, and maybe I can purge it from my system.

That's not to say it was a bad film. Far from it. Gritty, and real, and based on true accounts, this is a movie that will stay with me for a long time, but I don't think I will ever watch it again.

Before I continue, I should say now that this really isn't a David Bowie movie. Well, it is and it isn't. He makes an appearance for about five minutes or so, near the beginning, as himself, in concert. Additionally, the entire film's soundtrack is comprised of Bowie songs from his Berlin period, or thereabouts, anyway. Hence my reason for watching it, since Berlin Bowie has become my favourite (so far).

That said, the songs help tell the story, and Bowie as himself is actually a character woven into the fabric of the protagonist's story (I was going to call her the heroine, but in a moment you'll understand why I didn't).

Alright, enough with the prologue. ***SPOILER ALERT*** The story of Christiane F. takes place in the drug scene of 1970's Berlin. Christiane is 13 years old when she starts frequenting Sound, a popular night club, with her school friend Kessi. There, she meets Detlef, a boy not much older than herself, who is into drug experimentation with his friends. 

At first, Christiane is appalled by this, but she falls hard for Detlef and it doesn't take long for her to begin experimenting herself. A serious Bowie fan, she persuades her mother to buy her tickets to see his upcoming show in Berlin. There, she takes heroin for the first time, and she begins to spiral downward into a fierce addiction.

Detlef earns money by prostituting himself at "Zoo Station" (Berlin Zoologischer Garten)
and soon Christiane begins doing the same. Things begin to look up when Christiane's mother finds her incapacitated on the bathroom floor, and she invites Detlef into their home to help Christiane "withdraw". The two of them go through the withdrawal process together, depicted with gruesome reality which makes the scene mesmerizing and yet really hard to watch at the same time.

Sadly, they've barely been clean for 24 hours when they visit their friends at the Zoo and end up right back where they started. Things get rapidly abysmal yet again. When Detlef's friend Axel dies after injecting strichnyne that was sold to him as heroin, Detlef finds himself homeless, and he ends up moving in with one of his Johns in exchange for sex and money.

Christiane's continual desperation to obtain her next "shot" takes her around, across and through Berlin's seedy underbelly. She meets her friend Babsie with the hope that two of them will take their last shot together before going to rehab and kicking the stuff for good. But Babsie makes the front page as Berlin's youngest heroin OD victim, causing Christiane to attempt her own suicide by OD. Just when you are sure this film has a terribly sad ending, we find out that Christiane fails to die, and has gone to live out in the country with her grandmother and aunt. She's 18 months clean now, and thinks of Detlef often. The rest of her friends are either dead, or unsaveable.

As I mentioned, an array of David Bowie's songs from 1976-1979 are featured in the film. Notable inclusions are Warsawa from Low and Sense of Doubt from "Heroes", which are the perfect soundtrack to the dark desperation that is so pervasive in this story. Contrast these against the sped-up versions of "Heroes", Look Back in Anger, Station to Station, and TVC 15 that depict moments of newness, excitement and elation, often in the nightclub scenes.

Bowie's live performance of Station to Station in the early part of the movie is obviously a highlight, but it's a harrowing moment as well, as Christiane slithers her way through the crowd to the stagefront to see him as close as she can. While the rest of the crowd sings and dances and bounces up and down, her enthrallment is more serene, like she's in a state of hypnosis. Its like you can actually see her make up her mind to go to the dark side as she gazes up at her idol performing on the stage before her.

This isn't a film for the squeamish or the faint of heart. I haven't really even begun to describe the level of horrendous realism it offers... the withdrawal scene is bad, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. And I don't think I can really say more than that. If you are ever considering taking heroin, even once, then consider this a PSA. Watch Christiane F., and if that doesn't cure you of that awful notion, God help you.

Here is the film in it's entirety.




Baal (1982)



The first full-length play written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1918, Baal is about an ill-mannered, unwashed poet-slash-minstrel with a predilection for for sex, booze, and general lewd and loutish behaviour. Baal is not a nice guy, yet somehow he manages to bed the ladies, including those of an aristocratic flavour, despite his unkemptness and slovenly lifestyle. I'm putting it down to the fact that chicks dig musicians and arty types, even the really gross ones. Apparently this is something of a universal truth that stretches across decades and geographic locales. 

The BBC telefilm version stars Bowie in the title role, looking more than a little bit disheveled (read: utterly repulsive). I'm not kidding when I say that for a moment, I actually caught myself holding my breath from the imagined stench of him, such is the extent of his grossness. Don't believe me? Check this out:



I hope the hair, makeup, and costume people won some kind of award for their work.


***** Spoiler Alert *****

In any case, here's the low-down: Baal travels around to various bars in various cities, performing his songs, drinking and carousing, raging against the bourgeous machine, and getting it on with many an unfortunate lady. Casting mistress after mistress aside, the ladies come to sad fates - suicide by drowning, pregnant and abandoned. Eventually he murders his friend Eckhart with whom he travels, and ends up dying alone whilst on the run from the law.

What I liked about this film was the creative production. Producing a stage play for the screen can be challenging in that plays are often dialogue-heavy and rely on limited settings.The story of Baal is told using a mix of character dialogue and narrative song, almost in the style of a traditional Greek tragedy, with short "choral" pieces punctuating the acts and setting the stage for the scene that follows. In this production, Bowie as Baal performs the role of the chorus himself, telling the story through the songs Brecht wrote as part of the play.

I also really liked the use of original artwork to convey locations in a split-screen format with the action happening on the right hand side of the screen - specifically, the scenes of Baal and Eckhart walking across the country, accompanied by a painting of the countryside. In this way, the film is shot loosely using stage play techniques, which makes it visually interesting and wonderfully abstract.

Baal isn't a typical film - it's basically a stage play that has been filmed to air on television. I enjoyed it because as an English Drama major, I've studied Brecht and am a fan of theatre. I also thought the acting was solid across the board, and I was transfixed by Bowie's grotesque appearance. I'd like to think if I ever came across a Baal-like creature, my standards for hygiene would remain intact, and I'd be able to resist his "charms", even if he were to whip out the banjo and sing a sordid story with enchanting words.

Oh, and Bowie also released an EP of the five songs performed in the film!

You can watch the entire BBC production of Baal below.




Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)



This film is also known by the title, Furyo, which wikipedia tells me is Japanese for Prisoner of War. I'm not typically into war movies, but this one was different. Mainly, I liked that it's character-driven rather than action-driven. It isn't perfect, but it is very, very good.

The film's story centres around four main characters: Major Jack Celliers (Bowie), a WWII British soldier who surrenders himself to a Japanese POW camp after everyone else in his squad is killed in action; Captain John Lawrence, also a British soldier in the camp who speaks Japanese; Sergeant Hara, with whom Lawrence has formed a weird kind of friendship, and Captain Yonoi, the camp commandant. Each character struggles with a secret that threatens his honour.

***Spoiler Alert*** 

The story goes thus: Upon his surrender, Celliers is tried for acts of criminality to which he pleads not guilty. He is found guilty and sentenced to execution, but his life is spared. He is instead beaten and sent to live in the camp. While in the camp, he repeatedly displays leadership and instigates acts of rebelliousness in order to protect his fellow prisoners.

Hara and Yonoi find Celliers' acts admirable but also infuriating and a threat to their honour. There is a great scene in which Celliers goes out to find food for his fellow prisoners, who are being starved as punishment. He steals a bunch of manju cakes from the kitchen and gives one to each prisoner, wrapped in the petals of flowers which Celliers also procured under the guise of using them in a funeral service for a deceased prisoner.

When this act of rebelliousness is discovered, Celliers is confronted and admits to stealing the manju cakes for the men, but then eats one of the flowers claiming that they taste better. Of course, he is beaten and put into solitary confinement.

Along with respect and infuration, Yonoi develops another kind of fascination with Celliers, hinting at his own dark secret. He secretly goes to see Celliers at night while sleeping to look at him.

As Celliers continues to stand up for himself and his fellow prisoners, his acts of rebelliousness start adding up. When Lawrence is taken away to be beaten and tortured for allegedly finding and bringing a two-way radio into the camp, Celliers attempts to find him and rescue him, only for them to be caught and confined together. During their confinement, we learn Celliers' secret - that he betrayed his younger, weaker brother while the two of them were in boarding school, allowing him to be bullied to the point of humiliation, rather than intervening and protecting him.

At Christmas, Hara gets drunk and has Celliers and Lawrence brought to him. Playing Santa, he gives the men the gift of freedom, releasing them from the camp. Hara is reprimanded for this, and the following morning, the entire camp, including the sick and dying prisoners, are forced to assemble. Not all of the prisoners make it to the assembly, and Yonoi announces that he is going to kill the POW commander for this offence.

Before he can do the deed, Celliers approaches Yonoi and kisses him once on each cheek, basically showing him that he's aware of Yonoi's feelings for him, thereby publicly slaying Yonoi's honour.

Celliers is then beaten and forced to endure a final act of torture: being buried up to his neck in a sand pit and forced to live out the rest of his life in this manner, eventually dying of exposure. Before his death, he checks out on a mental visit to his brother, still a child, singing and watering his flower garden, in order to ask his forgiveness. The gracious little boy tells him it isn't necessary, as he's just happy to have his big brother back.

Back in the corporeal world, Yonoi comes to pay his respects and cuts a lock of hair from Celliers' head, and Celliers dies shortly thereafter.

There is more to the film than this main storyline, of course, but the style of storytelling employed makes it difficult to sum it up succinctly. You can read a fantastic and in depth analysis of the film here.

The movie is well-shot and beautiful to look at, which is no small feat for a war movie, in my opinion. There is an interesting clash of acting styles between the Japanese and western actors, which some might find jarring, but I actually really enjoyed.

There is a great scene early in the film in which Celliers mimes what looks like a typical morning routine - shaving, eating breakfast, and smoking a cigarette, while Hara and Yonoi speak Japanese in his presence, which Celliers clearly doesn't understand. I think Bowie's a decent actor, but this is the first time watching him in a film where I was actually impressed with his ability, probably because mime is like his "thing". Having said that, I think he does a fine job throughout the movie, playing Celliers with a combination of strength and depth that has been missing from his other roles thus far.

Unfortunately and surprisingly, I can't find a clip of the mime scene, but the clip below is a beautifully assembled montage of moments from the film, accompanied by the film's signature score, with the mime scene cut in throughout.



Labyrinth (1986)



As if I'm blogging about this. But also, as if I wouldn't. It's a Bowie blog. Duh. Still... I really don't know what I can say about this film that hasn't been said a hundred thousand million billion times. I doubt I can provide any new insight, or that I've even thought about it enough to try.

I had planned on watching Labyrinth again to put it freshly into my mind before writing about it, but I didn't. Having seen it several times as a kid (I was 10 when it came out) and just once as an adult, maybe about two years ago, during a revived Jim Henson phase (I <3 Jim Henson 4-ever), my memories of Labyrinth are pure and innocent. No, for real, I'm not shitting you when I say that. I honestly don't get these girls... *ahem*, women, who lust after Jareth. Are you serious? He's a goblin. He steals babies. He's prettier in make-up than you are. Get a grip on yourself.

For anyone who has lived in a cave since the 80's or who was only born recently, Labyrinth is a coming of age story about ***SPOILER ALERT*** a young teen named Sarah (Jennifer Connolly) who prefers to spend her time in her imaginary daydream fantasy world rather than doing the chores we all have to do in the real world, like babysitting our wee baby brothers and whatnot. She's a girl on the verge of growing up, plagued with the reluctance of having to leave her fantasy world behind.

One fateful night, Sarah, on babysitting detail, wishes her baby brother Toby away, so that she can be free to play in her daydream land. Enter Jareth the Goblin King (Bowie) to make her wish come true. He snatches Toby and takes him to his castle on the other side of an elaborate labyrinth, telling Sarah she can only save him by completing the labyrinth in 13 hours.

Dutifully, Sarah undertakes the quest to get Toby back, encountering a number of obstacles along the way, including the Bog of the Eternal Stench which is as delightful as it sounds. She encounters an unhelpful dwarf named Hoggle whom she eventually persuades to take her through the labyrinth. Little does she know, he's working for Jareth. At the Goblin King's bidding, Hoggle gives Sarah a poison peach. She eats the peach and wakes into a trance in which she is dancing with Jareth in a ballroom. He attempts to seduce her, distracting her from her task of completing the labyrinth in time to save her brother. She emerges from the trance and completes her journey to the castle, defeating an army of goblins along the way.

At the castle, Jareth tries one more time to convince Sarah to stay in the castle as his bride. Sarah rejects Jareth and ultimately defeats him by reciting lines from a story that end in "You have no power over me". Sarah then finds herself back at home safely with Toby asleep in his crib.

Alright, alright. Maybe I sort of understand the girlish Jareth fantasies, like a smidgeony little bit. I don't share them, but I can sort of see it. My first memory of seeing this movie was at a slumber party at my childhood friend Marnie's house. At the age of 9, Marnie was rampantly in love with Jareth. I was too busy being all like "OMG singing and dancing and puppets"! Because, as I may have mentioned, I have a deep affection for all things Jim Henson. And because I apparently hadn't had my "awakening" yet, thus crushes on boys or men, in real life or of the movie star variety, were not yet a thing. Maybe that's why I don't get the Jareth lust. I saw Labyrinth at exactly the right age.

And no, I'm not going to discuss the elephant in the room. Erm... forget I said that. It was a low blow... OMG look! Singing and dancing and puppets! And David Bowie, too!



Also, this is cool, if you're like me, and you dig "how did they do that?" behind the scenes-y type stuff.

The Linguini Incident (1991)


I've tried the linguini so you don't have to. You can thank me now.

***SPOILER ALERT*** 

The Linguini Incident is a stupid cute romantic comedy about a Houdini wannabe, an Englishman with a gambling problem in search of a wife-cough-green card, and a self-defense lingerie designer (you read that right) who conspire together to rob the restaurant at which two of them work. Far from being cinematic artistry, the movie is designed to make girls like me swoon at the stumbling love affair between Monte and Lucy (the Ethereal), and also put my hand up near the end of the movie alongside Iman.

Okay, rewind.

Lucy (Rosanna Arquette) is a struggling, Houdini-obsessed escape artist living in New York, trying to get her big break. It's hard knocks out there for Houdini chicks, you know. To make ends meet, she works as a waitress in a restaurant. Her new coworker, bartender Monte (Bowie), is an Englishman in hot pursuit of anything with a vagina in order to get his green card and become a permanent resident. 



He focuses his attention on adorable Lucy. Lucy needs money so that she can buy the wedding ring that belonged to Mrs. Houdini from an antique shop, so she asks Monte to help her rob the restaurant. He agrees, with the caveat that she marry him so he can stay in the country. Despite fulfilling his end of the deal, Lucy stands him up at City Hall on the day of their planned nuptials.

Maybe it's because her roommate Vivian, the designer of (literally) kick-ass undergarments, kinda sorta has the hots for him. Lucy calls Monte to come over one evening in order to rescue her from a stunt she's practicing. He does, with the hope that she'll accept his offer of marriage, but instead, ends up inexplicably handcuffed to Lucy's bed, oh and to Lucy. Vivian eventually shows up and the two girls ogle the sleeping Monte, which is super awkward and creepy, but then, Monte is a bit of a creep himself, so I guess it balances out.


Because girls don't commit crimes without getting their best friend involved, Vivian becomes the main component of the misdirection scheme they devise in order to rob the restaurant. Their first attempt fails, but their second attempt is successful, and they dance in the street while throwing their ill-gotten money around, which is absolutely the thing you should do after you rob your workplace.


Lucy attempts to buy Mrs. Houdini's ring with the stolen money, but the lady at the antique shop has already sold it, which is a bit of karma for robbing her employers, perhaps.

Along the way, Monte helps Lucy prepare for her big break as an escape artist, and they inevitably fall for each other, for, like, real. Eventually, we learn that Monte owes a substantial debt to the restaurant owners and that he had a bet going with them that he could get Lucy to marry him in a week. Winning the bet would have freed him from his debt. But since that doesn't happen, a new bet is established involving Lucy successfully performing her stunt at the restaurant: locking herself in a straight jacket, slipping into a mail sack, and immersing herself in a tank full of water, from which she must escape or drown.

The movie's plot is a bit on the ridiculous side, and kind of comes off like something I would have written in screenwriting school in the early 2000's (okay, it actually has some striking similarities to a screenplay I wrote in screenwriting school in 2000-01, particularly the lead female character being named Lucy, the presence of a Englishman in North America on the run from people he owes money to back home, and two buddies who rob a bank together so they can... wait for it... buy Christmas presents.) Despite the nonsensical plot, the characters are really likeable, and there are some really funny moments in the movie.

One standout hilarious moment occurs near the end of the movie. Lucy, having genuinely won the heart of Monte, is about to perform her stunt at the restaurant. She asks the crowd how many of them would like to see her drown in the tank, and Iman just happens to be in the audience. This happens:




I have to admit I actually LOL'ed at that. Anyway, Monte gives Lucy a good luck kiss, passing Mrs. Houdini's wedding ring to her by way of mouth, and tells her that it would have been her wedding ring, had she married him that day. And then of course, Lucy successfully escapes, freeing Monte from his debt, and the pair plan a date to get donuts together in the morning.

You might be asking yourself "but what about the linguini? Do they get it on in a pile of it?" and the answer is no. There is no linguini. Not really. There is chicken:


But linguini does not have a physical presence in the movie. Before Lucy performs her stunt, the restaurant owners tell a long story about their first big bet that they call "the linguini incident" that has nothing to do with the plot of the film. 

There, aren't you glad I watched that for you?

Basquiat (1996)



I've been meaning to watch this movie for awhile. When the AGO announced that they would be exhibiting a collection of Jean-Michel Basquiat's work, I knew it was time. As a result, I've had a Basquiat-filled weekend that began with the viewing of this fantastic documentary

It served as a perfect appetizer to the main course -- the exhibition itself -- which I went to today and cannot stop thinking about. Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now's the Time will be exhibiting at the AGO until May (2015). If you live in the Toronto area or can get here reasonably easily, I highly recommend filling your eyes and your mind with the works on display. This is not to be missed.

So of course, for dessert I treated myself to Julian Schnabel's film Basquiat, starring Jeffrey Wright as the title character, and David Bowie as Andy Warhol.

I'm glad I viewed each in this order. Basquiat is artistically directed, with good performances, but based on what I've learned about the man from the exhibition and the documentary, the film offers only a snapshot glimpse into his life and world.


***SPOILER ALERT***

Based on true events in the 1980s, Basquiat is a New York City street kid who left behind a middle-class life to pursue what I can only fathom is his own gritty vision of life as an artist. He becomes known for his poetic graffiti, tagged with the name Samo ©. He meets a girl named Gina and falls for her, eventually moving in to her apartment which he uses as a studio to create paintings and collages made from materials found on the streets of the city. 

Jean-Michel has big dreams of becoming a famous artist, and he has no problem approaching the stars of the local art and music scene in order to get his name and work out there.  In the early 80's he spies Andy Warhol having lunch in a restaurant, and approaches him with a fistful of hastily constructed postcard pieces and the sales pitch "Want to buy some ignorant art?". After a brief wiffle-waffle, Warhol borrows money from his lunch date and associate, art dealer Bruno Bischofberger (Anthony Hopkins) to buy the small collection.

Basquiat envies others in the art community who have already established themselves, and he continues to work toward achieving success for himself. His work gets attention at an exhibition organized by a friend. He sells a piece for $2000 and is approached by gallery owner Annina Nosei who sets him up with studio space and gallery real estate.

Suddenly, Basquiat becomes the talk of the New York art scene. Everyone who is anyone wants a piece of him hanging on their walls. Meanwhile, Jean-Michel descends into drug addiction and finds himself shedding friends as he gains success. 

Except for Andy Warhol, that is. He begins spending a lot of time with Warhol in his studio. The two begin collaborating on a series of pieces. However, the talk around town is that Warhol is using Basquiat to regain his lost popularity. Basquiat is hurt by these accusations and leaves Warhol, only to learn a short time later that Warhol has died.

 In desperation, he shows up at the mental hospital where his mother lives to try and take get her released, but he's there after hours and ends up getting nowhere fast with an uncooperative security guard. In the months that follow, Basquiat descends deeper into his addiction until his death by heroin overdose in 1988 at the age of 27.

*****

There is so much more to the story than this. But these are the parts of the story that Schnabel decides to illustrate, cut with shots of Hawaiian surfers, hinting at Basquiat's time spent in Hawaii and his desire to go back. The film doesn't touch Basquiat's time in Los Angeles, or his relationship with this father. The film also neglects the social and political statements Basquiat made with his work and focuses more on the unraveling life of the man behind the art. No doubt Schnabel's portrayal is accurate, if somewhat exclusionary of the full picture -- he was there, part of the scene himself. But I can't help feeling that the missing pieces are just as important as those covered in the film.

I'm realizing now that I've really neglected to discuss Bowie's contribution to the film. From what I know about Warhol, Bowie did a pretty great job portraying Warhol's famous nonchalance and aloofness. My guess is that having spent time with Warhol himself, Bowie picked up on some of the artist's mannerisms. To be honest, I kept forgetting it was Bowie acting in the role of Andy Warhol, which is to his credit as an actor, I think. As such, I'm inclined to say that this is one of Bowie's best film performances.


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