IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

Register | Log In | What is RT?
It's our 10th birthday, so you get presents!
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
 
MOVIES / ON DVD / THE LEGEND OF LEIGH BOWERY
The Legend of Leigh Bowery

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

The Legend of Leigh Bowery (2003)

91%
N/A
0%
N/A
N/A
N/A
91 %
Reviews Counted: 11 Fresh: 10  Rotten:1 Average Rating: 6.9/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 88 mins

Synopsis: The Legend of Leigh Bowery is an exploration of Leigh Bowery’s outrageous life, a life he lived as a performance. Bowery was a costume/clothing designer, nightclub impresario, performer, and musician whose vision influenced many of today’s important artists. He became known to the world... The Legend of Leigh Bowery is an exploration of Leigh Bowery’s outrageous life, a life he lived as a performance. Bowery was a costume/clothing designer, nightclub impresario, performer, and musician whose vision influenced many of today’s important artists. He became known to the world at large as the muse and subject of preeminent British painter Lucian Freud. Directed by Charles Atlas, the film provides an entertaining, uncensored, and multifaceted portrait of Leigh and of the times in which he lived. With interviews of Boy George, Damien Hirst, Michael Clark, Rifat Ozbek, Bella Freud, Cerith Wyn Evans, and Norman Rosenthal of the Royal Academy of Art, the film paints a fascinating picture of an extraordinary artist and opens a window onto the outrageous fashion, art, and nightclub scenes that defined London in the 1980s. The visual centerpiece of the film is Leigh himself: appearing on British talk show (including a program hosted by Gary Glitter), performing onstage with the Michael Clark Dance Company (for whom he also designed costumes), singing with his band Minty, “giving birth” to a full grown woman at New York’s drag marathon Wigstock, and dancing in London’s underground clubs. The film also treats the viewer to a visual feast of Leigh’s many fantastic outfits as well as the stunning portraits of Leigh painted by one of Britain’s greatest artists, Lucian Freud. The Legend of Leigh Bowery provides an honest, entertaining, and authentic account of Bowery’s work, and explores its impact on a culture of decadence and outrage, an impact that still reverberates in today’s art and fashion world. [More]

Genre: Education/General Interest

Starring: Boy George, Michael Clark, Lucien Freud

Director: Charles Atlas

DVD Info

Release:

Jan 7, 2005

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Stereo - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Charles Atlas & Lucy Sexton
  • Trailers
  • Bonus Interviews
  • Bonus Footage
  • Minty Multi-angle Performance
  • Anthony d'Offay Gallery Performance

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Photographic Fashion Show of Bowery's Styles

DVD-Rom Features:

  • Weblinks

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
11/19/04
Bill Gibron
PopMatters
Ratings Image
2/5

Boy George seems to be the only person genuinely inspired today to pick up Bowery's fashion torch, but if is that something anybody wants?

Full Review | comment Comment
07/17/04
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
Ratings Image
3/4

The Legend of Leigh Bowery replaces the man within the queer myth to the extent that when it’s over, Bowery seems less a freakish terror than the shrewd art-world transgressive he was.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/16/04
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
12/09/03
Premiere Magazine
Ratings Image
N/A

A mesmerizing, beautifully made documentary.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/03
David Noh
Film Journal International
Ratings Image
A-

Put on your most frightening wig, and enjoy the show.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/05/03
E! Online
Ratings Image
3/4

As tributes go, The Legend of Leigh Bowery is a saucy eye-opener.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/28/03
Jan Stuart
Newsday
Ratings Image
3/5

Without pushing too hard, the film makes a case for Bowery as a significant artistic catalyst blazing a glittery trail at the intersection of fashion, pop music and surrealist performance.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/28/03
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Absorbing documentary.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/28/03
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
Ratings Image
3/4

You may find the film as outrageous as it is outlandish, and Bowery would have taken that as a compliment.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/28/03
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
11/27/03
Onion AV Club
Ratings Image
3/5

An interesting doc, if only because it serves to introduce the work of a gifted, unique artist to those of us who have found little good to say about the 1980s and the excesses they produced.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/26/03
Jordan Reed
Boxoffice Magazine
Ratings Image
N/A

Atlas's remarkable moving-picture- book tribute to Bowery.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/25/03
Ed Halter
Village Voice
Ratings Image
B

More hagiography than critique, smoothing out Bowery's rough edges to paint him as an irrepressibly charming svengali.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/12/03
Gabriel Shanks
Mixed Reviews
1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View
See More Topics...

Related Forums

Click here to be the first to post a message on this forum.

Around the Network

• The Legend of Leigh Bowery at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Legend of Leigh Bowery at AskMen
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.