Set in the glittery Britain of the early 1970’s, director Todd Haynes‘ (CAROL, I’M NOT THERE, FAR FROM HEAVEN) sumptuous 1998 glam rock fantasia VELVET GOLDMINE epitomizes the sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll of the era, “an orgiastic celebration of high-camp fakery and gender-fluid sexuality, full of decadent dandies, dazzling fabrics and daring fabrications.” (BFI.org). The film follows Bowie-esque glam rock superstar Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Myers), whose alter-ego, Maxwell Demon, predicts his own death on stage. Shortly after he announces his prediction, he fakes his own death and is exposed as a fraud. A decade later, in 1984, a reporter and former fan named Arthur (Christian Bale), tracks down the former rocker to do an article on his life and downfall. Arthur interviews the man who discovered Slade, and one of his peers (Ewan McGregor), to understand Slade’s motivations. With Toni Colette and Eddie Izzard.

“Velvet Goldmine is a rollicking good ride, thanks to Todd Haynes’s haunting, colorful, and poetically vivid images and expressive, soulful performances from the entire cast, which includes Toni Collette as Slade’s trend-shifting wife..” (Slant Magazine)

“Todd Haynes creates Velvet Goldmine from the perspective of [a] fan, with a masturbatory fervor that demands dead-on details… In re-creating an era as a gorgeous carnal dream, Haynes celebrates the art of the possible.” (Rolling Stone)

“Riffing on the cultural connections between David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Oscar Wilde, Citizen Kane and queer theory, Todd Haynes fashioned a knowingly counterfactual chronicle of the glam rock boom in early 1970s London, with heavy emphasis on polymorphous perversity and calculated artifice.” (BFI.org)

Wednesday, July 17
Doors 8:45 pm | Movie 9:15 pm
Advance tickets $10.50 HERE | $12.50 at the door

*Minors permitted in the balcony. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
**Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

VELVET GOLDMINE (Todd Haynes, 1998 / 119 / 14A) Almost a decade has elapsed since Bowiesque glam-rock superstar Brian Slade escaped the spotlight of the London scene. Now, investigative journalist Arthur Stuart is on assignment to uncover the truth behind the enigmatic Slade. Stuart, himself forged by the music of the 1970s, explores the larger-than-life stars who were once his idols and what has become of them since the turn of the new decade.