The Legend of Leigh Bowery

Apr 13, 2002

1h 23m

★ 7.2

Overview

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.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

One Canvas Productions

ARTE

Atlas Films

The Legend of Leigh Bowery Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self (archive footage)

Leigh Bowery

Self

Boy George

A hybrid feature film that investigates contemporaneity through the body and its countless possibilities of expression and meanings. The film puts the body and the idea of the body in evidence, through metalanguage, articulation and confrontation of documentary, fictional and performative languages. The film follows the trajectory of the main character who uses her own body to formulate universes and investigate the meanings that are drawn in it. In a kind of subjective diary written on her skin, she records sensations and reflections, building relationships with thinkers, performances and archival materials, which lead her to other bodies and other stories.

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0.0

Replay

Jan 1, 1970

Older adults cannot believe the things younger people do, but they probably have forgotten they were the same way when they were younger.

9.9

Mountain Girl

Mar 27, 2024

An 80-year-old former fashion model and cult film actress reflects on her life after surviving cancer and COVID.

6.6

Meat Joy

May 29, 1964

"Meat Joy is an erotic rite — excessive, indulgent, a celebration of flesh as material: raw fish, chicken, sausages, wet paint, transparent plastic, ropes, brushes, paper scrap. Its propulsion is towards the ecstatic — shifting and turning among tenderness, wildness, precision, abandon; qualities that could at any moment be sensual, comic, joyous, repellent. Physical equivalences are enacted as a psychic imagistic stream, in which the layered elements mesh and gain intensity by the energy complement of the audience. The original performances became notorious and introduced a vision of the 'sacred erotic.' This video was converted from original film footage of three 1964 performances of Meat Joy at its first staged performance at the Festival de la Libre Expression, Paris, Dennison Hall, London, and Judson Church, New York City."

0.0

Feminine Singular

Nov 7, 2023

A documentary featuring 30 Argentinian women aged between 4 and 80, sharing their stories of resilience, strength, and unique perspectives on womanhood through performance art.

0.0

Pistolteatern

Feb 13, 2004

Pistolteatern in Stockholm, Sweden, was a leading experimental scene in the mid 1960s, comparable to the Living Theater in New York. In the years 1964-67. Pistolteatern produced theatre plays, exhibitions and happenings at a very high pace. The name, Pistolteatern, comes from two of creators, PI Lind and STaffan OLzon.

6.5

Cut Piece

Jan 1, 1965

Filmed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cut Piece documents one of Yoko Ono’s most powerful conceptual pieces. Performed by the artist herself, Ono sits motionless on the stage after inviting the audience to come up and cut away her clothing in a denouement of the reciprocity between victim and assailant.

6.3

The Gospel According to André

Mar 18, 2018

From the segregated American South to the fashion capitals of the world, operatic fashion editor André Leon Talley's life and career are on full display, in a poignant portrait that includes appearances by Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Bethann Hardison, Valentino, and Manolo Blahnik.

7.1

Blue Man Group: The Complex Rock Tour Live

Nov 25, 2003

Offbeat performance artists The Blue Man Group have finally been captured live on this disc that features concert footage, three full-length music videos and three songs from Blue Man Group's album, "The Complex." The live footage was filmed during Blue Man Group's successful and widely acclaimed August 2003 rock tour, where they wowed 9,000 fans in two sold-out concerts.

5.5

We Margiela

Oct 26, 2017

We Margiela tells the untold and intimate story of the enigmatic and singular fashion house Maison Martin Margiela. For the first time co-founder Jenny Meirens and members of the creative team that formed the heart of the house speak about the creative processes and unique philosophy of Margiela. Their stories, told through detailed and intimate interviews, give unprecedented insight in the genesis of one of the most influential fashion houses of our time. The film investigates the legacy of Margiela and its relevance for fashion and authorship today.

0.0

Mi arma

Nov 10, 2019

A young drag queen from Andalusia exposes the difficulties of adding aspects of her homeland culture to her artistic expression.

6.0

Harry Styles: The Finishing Touch

Jan 30, 2023

Hit after hit, pop-icon Harry Styles, once the centerpiece of the world's biggest boy bands has grown into someone who isn't afraid of self-expression, continuing to reject the traditional confines of masculinity.

2.0

Whatever Happened to Gelitin

Mar 10, 2016

Art dealer Salvatore Viviano and director Angela Christlieb embark on a search for the lost artist collective Gelitin, which since the 1990s has shattered the borders of "good taste" again and again with extravagant actions and installations. Interviews with old companions and artist friends in the U.S., Europe, and Asia are linked with anarchically montaged Gelitin archive material: intense, transgressive, experimental, gaudily colorful, funny, and virulent.

0.0

The Costume Designer

Jul 13, 1950

This short focuses on the job of the costume designer in the production of motion pictures. The costume designer must design clothing that is correct for the film historically and geographically, and must be appropriate for the mood of the individual scene. We see famed costume designer Edith Head at work on a production. The Costume Designer was part of The Industry Film Project, a twelve-part series produced by the film studios and the Academy. Each series episode was produced to inform the public on a specific facet of the motion picture industry. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

6.9

L'Amour Fou

Sep 22, 2010

This documentary examines the life and work of the late fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent, recounting how a frail prodigy prone to bouts of depression became an icon of the fashion world. Initially appointed head of the House of Dior in 1957 before growing into a globally recognized designer in his own right, Saint-Laurent overcomes his struggles with substance abuse, accumulating a large art collection alongside his lifelong personal and professional partner, Pierre Bergé.

10.0

Fashion Film

Oct 15, 2019

No overview available.

7.7

Dressing for Pleasure

Jan 1, 1977

Documentary about fetish clothing scene in 70s Britain.

0.0

Azzedine Alaïa

Mar 9, 2017

Joe McKenna is one of the most influential stylists in the world. From the beginning of the 1980s, he struck up a great friendship with Azzedine Alaïa, and they continued to work together for many years. Thanks to their mutual understanding and trust, Joe McKenna was able to obtain the rare privilege of entering the studio and the couturier’s workshops with his camera. He paints an intimate and endearing portrait of Alaïa, punctuated by interviews with Nicolas Ghesquiere, Carlyne Cerf, Naomi Campbell and Grace Coddington, among others

10.0

DIVISOR / VILLEURBANNE

Oct 15, 2014

Documentation of Lygia Pape’s 1968 performance Divisor - reactivated in the city of Villeurbanne (France) in October 2014. Commissioned by Institut d'Art Contemporain de Villeurbanne / Rhône-Alpes.

The Legend of Leigh Bowery

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

The Legend of Leigh Bowery Trailers