The Legend of Leigh Bowery

The Legend of Leigh Bowery
by Charles Atlas

Our Price: $39.94
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.65 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

DVD details

DVD Reviews of The Legend of Leigh Bowery

DVD Review: study of a freak
Summary: 3 Stars

In one of the first scenes of the documentary, they show Leigh falling down as he walks onto a television talk show program. It's purposeful, but it signifies that he thought outside of the box and worked against the grain.

He designed clothes, but didn't want people to buy them. Though a gender bender, he couldn't be minimized as "just" a drag queen. He was also involved in (post?)modern dance, club ownership, music video, and much more. His outfits are so asymmetrical, blinding, and large that they are better described as costumes. He was the epitome of contradiction and boundary erasure.

I think in America we associate men desperate to push society's buttons with heterosexual radio shock jocks. Here, we have a gay man playing that same role in 1980s Britain. Those interviewed for this documentary are just as freaky as Leigh was. His biographer's cleavage is hanging all over the place. One woman looks JUST like Annie Lennox, but isn't. When Boy George is one of the normal people being interviewed, you know this work has some freeeeakkkss in it!

This film is not for the weak at heart. It was hard for me to eat my dinner and watch it as much bad fashion and obscenity as there is here. Not only are some thing gross, there are also things here that can be viewed as racist and anti-Semitic. Leigh was operating in a time before and a country outside of political correctness. The film includes some clips of interviews from him and he can barely be heard. I'm surprised that his voice was so butch when his actions were just the opposite. The documentary is meant to be abstract, when the makers want to edit an interviewee's comments, they just fast-forward over it. No, your VCR or DVD is not malfunctioning.

My big disappointment is that there is very little focus on AIDS here. Learning about the way artists create work but survive this disease is important for individuals of all statuses to hear, thus I feel like an opportunity was lost. Granted, Leigh himself was secretive about his positivity. However, I wish the filmmakers had delved deeper here.