Bowie Beauty Break & "Lazarus" Farewell
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at 10:00AM Pt 1 Bowie & Velvet Goldmine
Pt 2 Curio Finale
Pt 3 Beauty Break
A picture released by the family last week to accompany their announcement that they will be having a private ceremony. They are overwhelmed by the public outpouring of love but wanted to remind everyone that they welcome all the tributes and celebrations (as people see fit) but they are not officially endorsed or organized by the family.
Have you been listening to David Bowie for a week solid now? If you haven't we forgive you. Where even to start with that discography? Bowie loomed so large in music and cultural history that we needed more time to process, so a week later here's the final piece of our goodbye - a beauty break to think of him more visually instead... or at least to give you visual accompaniment to go along with your playlists elsewhere.
Musicians have been catching the acting bug since the movies began to wildly varying degrees of success. Some that showed early promise simply didn't care enough to continue doing it (Annie Lennox, Björk, Courtney Love, Tina Turner), others who seemed to want it badly, didn't really have the gift for it (Madonna, Prince), a few have been successful at it despite not being "good" at it (Elvis). There are other musician/actors on whom the jury is still out of course (Justin Timberlake/Lady Gaga). And then there have been people like Cher who were so good at acting that people eventually or temporarily forgot they were musicians. Finally there's David Bowie, our subject today, who occupies the odd ground of being of the cinema but also quite apart from it. (Are there other musicians who have had a similar relationship to the movies -- maybe Sting?)
After the jump, a visual tour of his filmography...
The Man Who Fell To Earth (1975)
In Nicolas Roeg's cult hit David Bowie plays a space alien trapped for a time on earth. He also fellates a pistol nearly 40 years before James Franco "shocks' everyone by doing so in Spring Breakers.
Just a Gigolo (1978)
Bowie plays a Berlin gigolo involved with wealthy lonely women like Kim Novak!
Christiane F (1981)
David Bowie provided the soundtrack for this drug addiction drama but he's also in the film
The Hunger (1983)
For many people who missed his 70s march toward superstardom (raises hand) The Hunger was our cinematic intro to David Bowie as Catherine Deneuve's fellow immortal vampire... immortality is such a meaningless word for vampires because they always end up biting it, you know?
Yes, American Horror Story: Hotel was shamelessly riffing off this film(among other horror mainstays), particularly in regards to the Countess -- the movie begins with Deneuve and Bowie dressed to impress and on the new wave prowl together for sex partners (i.e. meals)... sound familiar?
Just look at their perfect 80s sexiness. In other words: they will have no trouble whatsoever ordering from this club's mobile menu, don'cha know. But Catherine Deneuve is the lead of the film, not Bowie, so enter Susan Sarandon shortly thereafter to make the fluid DTF desire even queerer.
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1983)
Bowie's most-celebrated traditional drama as he plays a prisoner awaiting execution. Interesting in the now trivia: Bowie's acting partner in this film is Ryuichi Sakamoto (pictured above with Bowie) playing Captain Yonoi who is, as Bowie was, a musician. He won an Oscar just a handful of years after this film for his work on the original score to The Last Emperor (1987) and was nominated at the Golden Globes this past ceremony for scoring The Revenant (2015) but no Oscar nomination for The Revenant followed. The music branch deemed the score ineligible reducing it's probable insane nomination count (13) to something still insane (12) but less "all-time"ish
Into the Night (1985)
In which David Bowie makes Jeff Goldblum fellate a gun (what's with all the oral threat?) and later puts a knife to Michelle Pfeiffer's throat. Not cool Bowie!
Absolute Beginners (1986)
Bowie sang the theme song for this movie musical set in 1950s London. It make a star of pop star / actress Patsy Kensit at the time, but didn't do much else.
Labyrinth (1986)
The Goblin King is Bowie's most popular role on the web. But it wasn't always thus. At the time it was just another oddity in his filmography, a fantasy film with a few musical numbers and lots of puppets, and a flop which made back only half of its budget. But today the web loves on David Bowie's bulge-friendly tights and fright wig and the movie's imaginative look, with the obsessive adult nostalgia that often attaches itself to movies originally aimed at children.
Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Martin Scorsese roped David Bowie in to play Pontius Pilate to Willem Dafoe's Jesus in this Bible picture.
The Linguini Incident (1991)
This relatively obscure comedy about bar employees (Bowie & Arquette) who decided to rob their place of employ has devout fans but I regret to inform that I haven't seen it! Have any of you?
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Agent Phillip Jeffries (David Bowie) infused yet more abstract non-linear mystery into the increasingly labyrinthine Twin Peaks narrative. And then vanished as quickly as he'd appeared. Obviously the upcoming Twin Peaks Season 3 won't include him but perhaps some of his nonsequitor reveals will play into David Lynch's favorite puzzle.
Bowie on the set of Basquiat (far right) but look! - it's our friend Paul Outlaw on the far left who was also in the movie.
Basquiat (1996)
Perfect casting to have one pop culture visual icon play another.
The Prestige (2006)
There were a handful of other films post Basquiat until now but The Prestige was the last truly significant movie role for Bowie. Who else could have played eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla?
"Lazarus"
David's intended farewell to us, treating even his own death as performance art, was released to his YouTube account just a handful of days before he died. What an artist, this man.
Look up here I'm in heaven.
I've got scars that can't be seen.
I've got drama that can't be stolen.
Everybody knows me now......Oh I'll be free
Just like that blue bird
Oh I'll be free
Aint that just like me
Other Web Tributes
Letters of Note Time capsule letter David Bowie wrote to fan... on a typewriter!
Spin 100 greatest David Bowie moments
Yahoo Duncan Jones, Bowie's filmmaker son, shares an emotional letter from his dad
Brainpicker "there's a starman waiting in the sky"
NY Times 8 ways to celebrate David Bowie if you're in New York City
Tony Visconti longtime Bowie producer has a few words
Iggy Pop "the light of my life"
Im Devastated! This great Artist changed my life! First concert i ever saw in Detroit! R.IP. ❤️ #rebelheart pic.twitter.com/hGfxI967Bw
— Madonna (@Madonna) January 11, 2016
Reader Comments (11)
You forgot Zoolander. "It's a walk off."
It's funny to think of his filmography right now. All I've been listening to since he died is live recordings from his '70s and'80s tours; studio recordings, especially the final one, just make me really sad. Here's another photo from my strange and lovely day in the presence of one of my all-time favorite artists.
I have been compulsive in my playing of Bowie's music since his death. My first and perhaps favourite album was "Young Americans". But to honour his death and celebrate the spirit with which he lived I find myself listening to "Wild is the Wind", a cover of a great Nina Simone song.
Thanks for the links, and Paul Outlaw - you look very good in these pictures, what a wondrous experience that must have been. Lucky you.
For me he occupies the space of performance artist, melding theater and music and film and just...being. But this post reminds me how many of his actual acting gigs I've seen. Of them all I'd like to revisit Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, which I remember as being quite brutal and sort of over my head when I saw it as a teenager. Thanks for the reflections here.
I've only seen "Basquiat" and "The Prestige," but I remember thinking his casting in the latter was so odd and yet so perfect.
LadyEdith: thanks, the whole experience was like a dream. Or several dreams. Truly.
SanFran: When Jolie directed the Zamperini story, the first thing I thought about was Mr Lawrence, although there's only superficial similarity.
Paul: I still haven't seen Un... what was it called again?
Also: Awesome still(s) from the Basquiat shoot!
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is such an incredible and underrated film. It's unlike anything else I've ever seen.
Bowie was mostly left off the cutting room floor in Fire Walk With Me, but if you're a Peaks completist like me I encourage you to watch the "missing pieces" off the blue ray, where you find out quite a bit about where (or what) Phillip Jeffries disappeared to.
I have a dream the new Peaks project will include both Bowie and the Log Lady in brief appearances, perhaps in one of the show's many worlds beyond our own.
For its DVD release, they re-titled The Linguini Incident as Shag-O-Rama. It made it look even sillier. It's a bad movie but so fun to watch.
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence is well worth revisiting or a first viewing if you haven't seen it before. Bowie's part is pivotal and he is mesmerizing (as always). Definitely his best dramatic performance. It's not quite correct to say he plays a prisoner awaiting execution. He plays a prisoner of war who becomes an object of fascination for the prison commander played by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The two musicians play roles that represent the unbridgeable cultural differences that existed between the Japanese and the allied POW's while allowing for the possibility of empathy with the Japanese cultural perspective. I found it very hard to watch Angelina Jolie's Unbreakable because despite the fact that it was based on a true story and the opposing protagonists came to a place of acceptance after the war, the movie comes no where near portraying the level of complexity that existed in the relationship between POW's and their captives that MCML managed.