Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
by D.A. Pennebaker
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Angela Bowie, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Mick Woodmansy, Trevor BolderDirector: D.A. Pennebaker
Brand: EMI
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-06
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Virgin Records Us/Sunset Home Visual Entertainment (SHE)
Movie Reviews of Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
Movie Review: Amazing Concert Film, Document of Bowie Persona
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful film on pretty much every count from my perspective. First of all, I am a lover of good documentaries and D.A. Pennebaker is one of the masters and a group of contemporaries such as Barbara Kopple, the Maysles and Frederick Wiseman. This film is from someone who knew how to shoot a documentary.
I am going to forgive some of the focus issues some have noted. After, it looks like this was shot on 16mm (as were many documentaries, given the cost of 35mm and you don't want to lug a 35mm film camera on your shoulder for 90 minutes straight.). Still, many of the shots are great and have the look of good cinematographers rather than the more sterile look of modern digitally shot concert films. Also, comparing something like Bowie's "Reality Tour" DVD from the 2003 tour, this film was shot with a professional cinema editor and it shows. I know several professional filmmakers and they'll admit that the editor really makes or breaks a film. A friend of the family, who shoots low-budget documentaries, still hires the absolute best editors she can afford. Watching "Ziggy Stardust" leaves you with feeling that you're dealing with filmmakers who are really sensitive to the subject. Think Jonathan Demme's "Stop Making Sense" or Michael Wadleigh's "Woodstock", or even Martin Scorcese's "Last Waltz". Watch this as a film, not just a concert.
Sonically, this is stunning!!! For those with a really high resolution hi-fidelity system to play this through, this film will sound demo-quality. The dynamics are breathtaking. Unlike many more modern concert videos which have soundtracks which are compressed to death (All instruments sound pretty equally of the same loudness resulting in not being able to hear in and around the instruments.), this soundtrack is alive, full and realistic. Deep bass is low, extended, tight and quite revealing of texture. You'll need a more accurate system to pick up the bass on this. Highs are absolutely naturally rendered. Cymbals, for example, have a rich shimmer to them, and reveal the harmonic textures as opposed to being harsh, grainy, thin and tinny which I'm more used to in more modern DVDs. Drums can be felt in the gut, again, if you have a system that is up to it. By the way, another example of a well-recorded and engineered DVD concert film is the Leonard Cohen Live in London DVD.
One sign of a very good system (and you need an amplifier, sources and speakers capable of revealing this level of resolution - no BOSE systems need apply - I'm not a snob, I just have heard many of them and owners are not getting the sound quality that BOSE promotes.) is being able to hear layers of the soundstage, if there is enough aural information being presented. The sound on Bowie's "Reality Tour" DVD is so-so. The sound on this DVD (I have the 2003 version, which I just purchased) is really layered. I was quite impressed with the layered soundstage presented.
By the way, it helps that the soundtrack was laid down using a PCM stereo track. Whenever you see this, it should alert you to the fact that someone producing the DVD was interested in the sound quality. Contrast this with "Reality Tour" which was simply a Dolby stereo track (I don't have surround in my system). Dolby, itself, always results in some form of compression, so it's never a top choice.
Now, musically and theatrically, this is Bowie at his edgiest. He is so into the Ziggy Stardust persona and he performs the songs as though they ARE the last ones he'll ever do. This is theatrically and musically an incredibly compelling Bowie performance. Moreover, Pennebaker treats to behind the scenes preparation just before Bowie goes onstage (getting dressed and make-up applied, visits from friends, including Richard Starkey, a.k.a. Ringo Starr) as well as preparation during the show for costume changes.
I really found this film and concert enthralling on absolutely every level and urge you to see it, particularly if you are sort of a Bowie neophyte, as I have kind of been before seeing this.
Summary of Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
The digitally remastered glam-rock classic features David Bowie as his gender-bending alter-ego Ziggy Stardust, in his final performance given at London?s Hammersmith Odeon in 1973.Similar DVD Movies
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