In the last post, I shared my impressions of David Bowie as a musician, with some musings about the albums I was most familiar with, from Space Oddity to Heroes.
In this post, I'd like to talk more about this multi-faceted man, with some thoughts about his acting roles, live performances and the David Bowie Is... exhibit. These are once again personal observations, and thus limited to my own recollections and impressions.
The Movie Roles
The first (and really, only) lead role David Bowie had was in Nicolas Roeg's 1976 cult flick, The Man Who Fell to Earth. The role used Bowie's own natural diffidence to advantage, as he played an alien who takes the form of inventor/entrepreneur Thomas Newton. Newton is trying to finance his return to his water-starved home planet, but is soon seduced by (pardon the pun) earthly pleasures, particularly alcohol, and ends up stranded here.
The best aspect of the movie, for me, is his relationship with Mary-Lou, played by lovely Candy Clark. In once scene, he accompanies her to church, where he struggles to sing "Jerusalem" with the rest of the congregation. I had to smile when I saw that; imagine, David Bowie having trouble carrying a tune!
Since then, Bowie appeared in various roles, many of which I can't comment on too extensively: The Hunger, where he played John Blaylock, one half of a vampire couple (with Catherine Deneuve). I've only seen this film once, and quite a few years ago; Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, playing a British POW in a WWII Japanese camp. I have never seen this movie, though I hear he is very good*; Just a Gigolo, as as a German WWI veteran who takes up a career as a gigolo to make ends meet; the Goblin King in Jim Henson's Labyrinth, a role in which he showed a menacing edge; Pontius Pilate in Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, which I've only seen once, and I honestly do not remember his performance at all, I'm embarrassed to say; and Basquiat, about the NYC artist, where Bowie played a real person for the first time, Andy Warhol. I haven't seen this one, either.
But there are two roles he played that I do admire (and remember!), one of which I absolutely relish; this was his performance as Colin Morris, aka The Englishman, in John Landis' Into the Night, from 1985. Into the Night is one of my favourite movies of all time; every time I watch it, I'm just delighted. There are many small, quirky performances, including those from other film directors, like Roger Vadim, David Cronenberg, Paul Mazursky, and Landis himself, as well as cameos by Don Siegel, Jim Henson, and others.
There are also musicians in acting roles here, including a turn by Carl Perkins as a big, menacing bodyguard, and of course, Bowie's gleefully psycho gunman, who is convinced that Jeff Goldblum's schlubby Ed Okin is some kind of master criminal! ("You can stop performing now, 'Ed' - if that's your name," he smirks). Later, there is a huge fight scene in a posh hotel suite, between Bowie, Perkins and Goldblum, to the accompaniment of an Abbott & Costello movie on multiple TVs!
The other performance by Bowie that sticks in my mind, though I've only seen it once, is his portrayal of another actual person, Nikolai Tesla, in 2006's The Prestige. He gives the character real depth, with a world-weariness that's quite affecting. Just a small part, but quite memorable, in a movie that I frankly expected to be better, what with Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson and Piper Perabo in the cast.
*(Update: I have just recently seen Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence on Blu-Ray, and yes, he is very good, as defiant - and guilt-haunted - POW Maj. "Strafer Jack" Celliers. There is even a hint of madness in his portrayal of the character, perhaps a foreshadowing of the thoroughly demented Colin Morris in Into the Night. I had to smile a bit, though, because, as with Thomas Newton, he was again playing a character who is quite tone-deaf!)
In Person/Live
I had the pleasure of seeing David Bowie live once, at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1978, not long after the release of Heroes. This was the concert tour that was captured on the double live album, Stage.
Well, I wasn't disappointed, I'll tell you. The first thing they played were the opening notes of "Warszawa," and from that point on, I was happy.
Bowie was playing no persona here, he was just himself, immaculately dressed, of course, and in fine voice. I remember at one point noting how his voice resonated through the whole of that cavernous venue. Yes, of course it was amplified, but it was still powerful.
He was somewhat reserved and shy in person, seeming genuinely touched by the applause and enthusiasm of the crowd. He was aided ably in the band by his longtime guitarist, Carlos Alomar, who bounced happily around the stage, providing an energetic foil to Bowie's quiet presence.
They ran through tracks from Heroes and Low, as well as older songs, going back as far as Ziggy Stardust. No "Space Oddity," though, and I wasn't sorry (and I'm sure he wasn't, by that time) that they didn't play it.
I also remember seeing a TV special in the 1990s on A&E, part of the "Live By Request" series, that featured Bowie and his band, around the time of the Heathen album. Once again, I noticed his quiet charm and diffidence, as he performed requests for a small audience. It was there that I saw him use the stylophone, which he had played on Space Oddity and The Man Who Sold the World, and was to use again on Heathen. It's a hand-held electronic keyboard, with an octave-or-so range, played with a stylus - hence the name. Only he would showcase such an obscure instrument!
"David Bowie Is..."
I was also privileged to see this exhibit, which ran for some weeks at the Art Gallery of Ontario, one of only a few venues outside of England to show it.
This was an absolutely massive exhibit, ambitiously covering as many aspects of Bowie's career as possible; his hundreds of songs, of course; his early years in London; his influence on music videos; being a fashion icon; his film roles; and more. I spent the whole late morning and afternoon in the exhibit, and had to be chased out by an attendant at closing time!
I already respected and admired Bowie's music for many reasons, but this exhibit increased that respect and admiration many times over.
What was overwhelmingly clear was the massive amount of work the man put into his songs. From his early recordings in 1966-67 on, the control he exercised over his music was amazing.
The exhibit included the copy of The Oxford Companion To Music, from which he learned arranging, as well as several pieces of music manuscript showing his handwritten arrangements for early songs like "London Boys" and "Space Oddity." In fact, there was an entire small room devoted to that one song, showing his string arrangements, contemporary newspapers with headlines about the Apollo missions (where he got the inspiration for the song), and the proto-music video for the first version of it.
There was also a handwritten chart for the vocal arrangements for backup singers for one song on Young Americans. No notation, just a kind of graph showing at what points the voices were to sing the "ooh"s or "mmm"s in the song.
Many people have called David Bowie a genius, mostly since his untimely passing; if anything, this aspect of the exhibit was proof of the humourous saying that "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration!"
I was quite thrilled to see a couple of the (surprisingly basic) synthesizers that were used in the recording of those chilling songs on Low and Heroes. This was part of a room dedicated to Bowie's sojourn in Berlin, and included photos, and some of Bowie's own artwork from that period.
There were also displays of the many stage outfits he wore over the years, with footage of the actual concerts where he wore them projected on the walls behind.
As well, there was a whole room devoted to Bowie's many groundbreaking music videos. We take these so much for granted now, that some may not realize how far ahead of their time some of these were. As I mentioned in the last post, I never saw a purpose-made "music video," promoting a single song, before "The Jean Genie." And let's not forget his innovative video for "Ashes to Ashes," or some of those for his more recent albums, that could well include his last ones, for "Blackstar" and "Lazarus."
Also, there was a small room set up to look like a recording booth, with the walls lined with the full-size covers of all Bowie's albums up to that point (The Next Day had only just been released, and of course, Blackstar was yet to come). It was just overwhelming to think of one person having written all that music, much less performed it, arranged it and toured with it.
There were more things in the exhibit, but I won't try to cover them all. Needless to say, it was an incredible thrill to see the world of such a multifaceted artist opened up to me, and I'll surely never forget it.
Finally...
Want to know the main reason I admire David Bowie? By living his life, he showed that it makes no difference what someone looks like, or their sexual orientation, or their personal demons. In the end, we're all people, and we're all equal.
There will never be another David Bowie.
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