Stardust

Successfully breaking with the greatest hits formula of Rocket Man or Bohemian Rhapsody, Stardust follows another major 1970s star - David Bowie - on the road towards his breakthrough Ziggy Stardust persona. The action focuses mostly on a no-budget promo tour of the USA that Bowie undertook in 1971 and, while it features no music from the man himself - the estate declined - this allows director/co-writer Gabriel Range the freedom to paint the sort of portrait of Bowie that's going to upset a lot of devotees. The Bowie of Stardust is pretentious, petty, silly, fey and self-regarding, but he's also so magnificently and comically self-sabotaging that you can't help but warm to him. Also generating sympathy is the side story of "the family curse", the mental instability that's put David's brother Terry (Derek Moran) into an institution. Physically, Johnny Flynn is nowhere near androgynous enough to be early-70s Bowie but that fades as a concern as Flynn gets stuck into his portrayal of this beached creative spirit desperate for inspiration. Period-accurate in most respects - you can almost smell the mildew - Stardust is full of side characters who are decades too old, most notably Bowie's middle aged fanboy publicist Ron (a fabulous Marc Maron). If you're looking for a nit to pick, it's one of the very few to be found in this thoughtful and vastly entertaining study of the starman in the making.