Product Description

The Legend of Leigh Bowery is an exploration of Bowery's outrageous life-a life he lived as a performance. Bowery was a costume-clothing designer nightclub impresario (TABOO on Broadway produced by Rosie O'Donnell) performer of today's important artists. He became known to the world as the muse and subject of preeminent painter Lucien Freud.System Requirements: Running Time 83 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MISCELLANEOUS/SPECIAL INTEREST UPC: 660200309428 Manufacturer No: PALMDV3094

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65440 in DVD
• Brand: UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP DISTRIBUTION
• Released on: 2004-10-19
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 60 minutes

Customer Reviews

Riveting
I knew only a little about Leigh Bowery going in, having seen some of Lucien Freud's large scale paintings of him, and also seeing WIGSTOCK the drag queen documentary in which Leigh Bowery makes an astonishing appearance, giving "birth" to Nicola, his assistant, through an amazing theatrical stunt. I couldn't believe my eyes in either case.

The film is terrifically exciting both as information and as entertainment. Atlas has an artist's eye and, or so it seems, a tremendously sympathetic, yet dispassionate, insight into the personality of the mysterious and enigmatic Leigh Bowery. Bowery emerged rapidly from what must have seemed in comparison the very outback of ustralia to the trendy, gender-bending nightclubs of 80s London, one of which he started himself--the infmaous TABOO. He wore a variety of wigs and costumes, but that's understating it, because the costumes took on a life on their own and indeed no other human could have worn them. Interviewees claim that, even though some of the costumes were painful in the extreme to wear for more than a few minutes, Bowery carried on for hours in them, having the time of his life.

One nice thing is that Atlas has footage from every period of Bowery's artistic life, from his challenging one-man show at Anthony D'Offay gallery, in which viewers could watch him through a one way mirror, preen and primp himself all day on a chaise longue to die for, all the way to his last performances with the rock group MINTY. His death from AIDS is treated very sparsely and, I thought, most movingly. One minute he was here, the next he was gone, poof! Like a dandelion. The speakers are all extremely cogent and it seems as though they wanted to put their best foot forward for their late chum, for all of them look fantastic, from Damien Hirst to Boy George. The painter Cerith Wyn Evans steals the show however--he is totally photogenic and, though no longer young, is the sexiest man in the movies right now. Sorry to add a lascivious note to this somber review, but I just have to. He's as riveting as the documentary he appears in.

The Best DVD I've Seen This Year
I bought this on a whim, really. I had very little knowledge of Leigh Bowery, only tidbits I picked up from other artists who were inspired by him. Watching this movie is at turns absolutely hilarious, diabolical, grotesquely fascinating, uplifting, and sad, but ultimately hugely entertaining. No need for me to go into details about the man here, it's the documentary that's in question. It is very well done. Lots of video and film from the era, new interviews with his associates, and the bonus features are incredible, almost an entire movie's worth alone. For anyone with a passing interest in fashion, performance art, or the club scene of the Eighties and early Ninties, this is required viewing. Leigh Bowery lived his life as Art. This documentary is an informative and entertaining testament to that. Recommended very highly.

INTERSTING WELL DONE DOCUMENTARY
I found this piece to be very well done, in as far as how much first hand information they present to craft Bowery's life story.From childhood to his untimely death from Hiv complications in 1994.I would have liked to see, other artists coment on Bowerys influence and importance on the art scene of the time and future. On a personnel note. I do have to say that I found Bowery lacked in Moral character. He knew full well he was HIV positive in the mid eighties , but still continued to have sex with multitudes of partners.A topic I notice, that is never discussed by his friends in the documentary or for that matter in any Bowery information I have seen.