Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a bisexual glam rock star patterned mostly after David Bowie in the 1970s and 80s. Slade inspires teenage boys and girls to paint their nails and explore their own sexuality. Unable to escape the role he created for himself, he plots his own murder. In the end he destroys himself, but when his fans discover that the murder is a fake, his popularity declines and he is all but forgotten. Another rock star, Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor) is a genre defying performer who doesn't back down from sex, nudity, or drugs on or off stage, and who is based on Iggy Pop and Lou Reed (whose parents sent him to electroshock therapy to "cure" his homosexuality).

The story follows a British journalist, Arthur Stewart (Christian Bale), who has to search his own past when writing an article about the mysterious disappearance of Brian Slade for an American periodical. The film turns Slade's paranoia of being murdered during a concert (a paranoia that Bowie incorporated into the "Ziggy Stardust" story in the climax of the "Ziggy Stardust" album) into a career-ending publicity stunt by Slade, after which he gradually disappears from the public view. As Stewart locates and talks with people connected to Slade, trying to find out what happened, he revisits the glam-rock scene of the 70s in a series of vignettes, which recreate the stories of Slade, Wild, and others involved in their lives.

The tale strongly parallels Bowie and Iggy Pop's relationship in the 1970s and 1980s, with parallel stages in both stories. Brian Slade's gradually overwhelming on-stage persona of "Maxwell Demon" and his backing band, "Venus in Furs", likewise bear a resemblance to Bowie's similar persona and backing band, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. And like the relationship of Slade and Wild, Bowie produced records with both Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.

Although the character of Brian Slade is heavily based on David Bowie, Bowie disliked the script and refused to allow his songs in the film. The soundtrack features new songs written for the movie by Pulp, Shudder To Think, and Grant Lee Buffalo, as well as many early glam rock compositions, both covers and original versions. The title of the movie takes its name from the song "Velvet Goldmine", written by David Bowie. Lead character Brian Slade is an allusion to the 1970s glam band Slade, and the name of Slade's persona "Maxwell Demon" is from Brian Eno's first band. Curt Wild's backing band, The Rats, shares its name with one of Mick Ronson's earliest groups, and also alludes to Iggy Pop's band, The Stooges (both words are terms for someone who is an informer). "Venus in Furs" is a reference to Lou Reed's Velvet Underground song of the same name. Carter Burwell and Craig Wedren composed the original music, and Todd Haynes wrote the screenplay from his story co-written with James Lyons. Todd Haynes directed.

Opposite of Sex (1998)

On the death of her stepfather, perky 16 year-old Louisiana girl Dede Truitt (Christina Ricci) moves in with her gay schoolteacher half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan) and immediately starts coming on to his sexual partner Matt Mateo (Ivan Sergei), finally forcing him into an affair in which she becomes pregnant. She tricks him into believing he impregnated her, but in fact the father of her child is her ex-boyfriend Randy "One Ball" Cates (William Lee Scott). She and Matt elope, leaving Bill and his uptight best friend Lucia DeLury (Lisa Kudrow), the sister of Bill's deceased previous lover, to try and track them down and sort out the mess.

In the meantime, Matt's "bit on the side," Jason Bock (Johnny Galecki), attempts to blackmail Bill, claiming he sexually assaulted him while he was a student, causing much media attention. As the situation snowballs, the only person who sees what Dede is up to is the frustrated acid-tongued Lucia. The whole affair blows into a scandal exposing her school teacher brother and the true parent of the child is called into question as it is revealed that there have been a series of lovers. The film's climax is set in Canada where all of the characters finally meet up, and where Deedee gives birth to her son Randy Jr.

After the birth, Dede goes to prison for a few months, then moves back in with Bill, while Matt and Jason travel together, and Lucia marries her old friend Sheriff Carl Tippett (Lyle Lovett). Narrating the ending, Dede sarcastically concludes that sex is the opposite of what people really want, leading to kids, disease, and relationships. At the end of the film, the vignettes of the various caring relationships among the characters shows the opposite of superficial sexual gratification.

This film is a black comedy, narrated by and centered around self-absorbed, manipulative, cynical teenager Dede who manages to destroy the lives of everyone she meets. There is some heart underneath all the back-stabbing, betrayals, crime, and seediness. Janet Maslin in The New York Times called it a "gleefully acerbic comedy". Film critic Roger Ebert enjoyed the voice-over narration supplied in-character by Ricci, calling it "refreshing" and comparing it to "Mystery Science Theater 3000". Mason Daring composed the original music, and Don Roos wrote the screenplay and directed.