i remember being absolutely awestruck when i watched velvet goldmine for the first time - it was like seeing my heart and my mind bedazzled and laid out on screen. the world that todd haynes created seemed like a dream world to me then, a million miles away from my life in taipei.

almost a year and a life-changing move later, i still love velvet goldmine as much as ever but in a wonderfully different way. it feels so much…

an insipid waste of time, not half as daring or subversive as it fancies itself to be. it's easy to see why everyone on tumblr was so obsessed with this film - its images of messy parisian hedonism align perfectly with 2014 tumblr's worship of empty aesthetic - but it's lost a great deal of charm in the ensuing years, the listless voiceover and wishy-washy politics watering down an already lifeless narrative.

(also there are many gross things in this…

i was lucky enough to attend a screening with a director q&a afterwards, in which francis lee revealed that one of his biggest influences for this film was pretty woman to everyone's delight.

other highlights:
- the sounds of the yorkshire countryside are very key to the film; gheorghe has his own special wind sound that follows him through the film and remains after he has left, like an audio haunting
- bird sounds in the film are also significant…