MOVIES

ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDER FROM MARS

Ziggy Stardust is back! David Bowie's androgynous persona first arrived in the summer of 1972, the year the Watergate burglars were arrested, DDT was banned, Ms. magazine debuted, the word psychedelic was in common use, and The Moody Blues' Tuesday Afternoon was in regular rotation in the fledgling FM world. It would be another year before the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders and three years before CBGB's in New York began catering to the punk scene.

Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars might as well have been from Š well, Mars. Bowie's touring transvestite extravaganza featured what would become musical touchstones for a generation: "Hang Onto Yourself," "Rock n Roll Suicide," and "Suffragette City." In one magical tour, Bowie legitimized gender bending, gave birth to glam rock, and achieved rock superstardom. Filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker captured the final date of the tour on celluloid. Better known for Don't Look Back, his 1967 documentary of Bob Dylan's England concert tour, Pennebaker shot both films using hand-held cameras, long before the steadicam appeared. While Pennebaker filmed Don't Look Back in well-lit hotel rooms and limos, he lensed Ziggy Stardust almost entirely from the concert floor with only ambient light.

Pennebaker's record of Bowie's iconoclastic Ziggy/Lady Stardust spent the years between 1972 and 1983 in search of a distributor. Initially premiered in 1983 on ABC's late-night rock-and-roll program, the film saw limited theatrical release that same year. Critical reaction to the film was generally negative, and it does compare poorly to the 1973 Woodstock and 1978 The Last Waltz, the twin benchmarks of concert film. Now re-released on the 30-year anniversary of the Ziggy Stardust tour, Pennebaker's original has been "remastered." The sound is better; the visuals are not. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is an out-of-focus, shadow-filled, jumpy mess of a movie. If Pennebaker intended to portray the experience of a concert through the haze of large quantities of drugs and alcohol, the film is a smashing success. Unfortunately, it is in fact a poor-quality documentary of a phenomenal artist at the beginning of a long career.

By the time Ziggy Stardust was in wide release, Bowie had exchanged his flowing silks and thigh-high boots for pressed linen and Ferragamos, becoming the Thin White Duke. Today he is reinventing the Internet as artistic forum. This month, we can look back almost to the beginning-out of focus and dim, as I suppose the distant past should be.-John Stiles

As part of the Revivals film series, the Museum of Fine Arts will screen Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in Brown Auditorium on November 1, 8, 9, 29, and 30. Check out www.mfah.org for details.

LAN YU

From an erotic short story posted anonymously on the Internet, director Stanley Kwan has fashioned Lan Yu, a moving, arousing drama centered on the mismatched love affair between an older businessman and a gay college student set against the Tiananmen Square uprising. These two men meet one night in a pool hall and each are transformed by what turns out to be a life-changing sexual encounter. Lan Yu plays November 15-21 at Angelika Film Center, 713/225-5232. -Kristian Z. Salinas

THE WIZARD OF OZ

Follow the yellow-brick road again with the return of one of Hollywood's most cherished films, featuring Judy Garland as Dorothy. Lushly photographed in profound three-strip Technicolor, this 1939 classic remains an entertaining fairy tale for young and old. The Wizard of Oz plays November 22-28 at Angelika Film Center, 713/225-5232. -KZS

FRIDA

Julie Taymor, director of Titus and the stage version of The Lion King, finally brings to the screen the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Salma Hayek assumes the role once coveted by Madonna. Alfred Molina portrays Diego Rivera. Advance word hints that the Frida will address Kahlo's romantic liaisons with women. Scheduled to start November 1 at Landmark's Greenway Theater, 713/626-0402. -Tim Brookover

THE BUSINESS OF FANCY DANCING

Sherman Alexie, the award-winning director of Smoke Signals, returns to the richly textured world of the American Indian reservation. Sixteen years after high school graduation, Aristotle Joseph and Seymour Polatkin (one now a gay poet) reunite and face their divergent paths in life. The Business of Fancy Dancing, which in July received the outstanding screenplay award at Outfest, plays November 22-28 at Angelika Film Center, 713/225-5232. -KZS