The Legend of Leigh Bowery

2002
7.3| 1h23m| en
Details

Welcome to the over-the-top, extravagant world of Leigh Bowery, a key figure in New Romanticism and London nightlife in the 1980s. With his bizarre outfits, a mix of kitsch and fetish, and his eccentric performances, he influenced artists, musicians and stylists like Boy George, Lucian Freud (of whom he became the muse), Vivienne Westwood, Anthony and the Johnsons, John Galliano and David LaChapelle. Born in Australia into an intensely religious family and brought up in a Melbourne suburb, Leigh moved to London where he worked as a fashion designer and a promoter, and started the legendary disco club night "Taboo", the first outrageous polysexual party in London. The documentary offers a fully rounded portrait of this artist, including interviews with the people who knew him, who describe a complex, extreme, and ironic personality, a performer, actor and designer ahead of his time, from his difficult early life to international success, up to his death in 1994.

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Reviews

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Listonixio Fresh and Exciting
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
qlazzarus24 A very captivating documentary about a visionary icon of his time and craft. If you know nothing of Leigh Bowery, he was a rather unusual bloke who grew up in a laid back suburb of Australia called Sunshine. Probably feeling stifled, he then left to make his mark in the world, ending up in London, England. This was basically as far as he could get from his upbringing without leaving the planet. But "otherworldly" was exactly what Leigh was. Leigh was and is described as "living art"; that is to say that Leigh wore his own masterpieces in the form of bizarrely, fantastic outfits. This was his lifestyle. Usually he wore them out to clubs and such, living a mostly nocturnal life as a kind of grandam in the London scene. With regard to his outfits, some say Leigh wore them to shock people, keeping them in the limbo of not knowing whether to feel embarrassed, stare, or just plain run in the other direction. One thing is for sure, Leigh was never ignored and basked in this somewhat perverted reality of emotions. Phantasmagorical, is the one word I can think to best describe Leigh Bowery.Leigh's life and work are still celebrated today and have to come to the forefront as of late. He was definitely one of those cats who was ahead of their time.If your interested in observing an awesome life, lived very, very differently, then this documentary is for you.
iam-69 The best attempt so far to capture the life and work of Leigh Bowery in film. Particularly interesting are clips from the early Eighties - ie the South of Watford sequence - showing Bowery with four key figures in his life - Trojan, Michael Clark, Rachel Auburn and the legendary flat itself complete with Star Trek wallpaper. A must see for anyone interested in this artist or 80's club land in London.The notion that his life culminated in portraits by Lucien Freud (featured in the film) is bizarre and laughable. The man had established himself as an international icon and darling of the avant garde years earlier.
jrobin6301 I saw this movie before i had ever heard about Leigh Bowery and this movie really documented his life and career it was really interesting and it showed a lot of his outlandish works of art Leigh was born in Australia and he was a fay fashion designer many of his works shocked and horrified . He was an infamous clubber and had amazing stage presence. Whether he was in gallery showing himself, nude, or giving birth to full grown women ha always had an amazing outlandish was to shock anyone. There are appearances by Boy Goerge , Rosie O'Donnel and Lucian Freud of which Leigh was his muse. if you haven't ever heard of Leigh or if you have and want to know more about him and what he was about then this is a great movie for you
didi-5 This short film, coming a decade after Bowery's untimely death from AIDS-related meningitis at the age of 33, presents an honest and interesting portrait of a clearly complex figure under all the glitter, high energy, and mad costumes. A larger than life image took him from Australia to the London gay clubland, costume design, and performance art (including a long association with the superb Michael Clark Dance Company), eventually culminating in the series of astonishing and touching portraits painted of him by Lucien Freud in 1990.This film attempts to give a balanced view of its subject through interviews with his family, friends, colleagues and widow Nicola (a lady with odd fashion sense!). I think it does the job pretty well, and the chance to see so many clips (including interviews, bits from Because We Must, and footage of Minty) and so many costumes more than justifies an entire film on this bizarre kid from Down Under.