Stardust confines itself to the months following the release of Bowie’s third album,
The Man Who Sold The World, in 1970, and his US promotional tour the following year. Forgoing the grander picture and his later hits (the film did not receive permission from the Bowie Estate to use any Bowie music),
Stardust offers a keyhole perspective on the period responsible for launching the cultural icon.
Stardust, 2021(Film still)
The three-week US tour might have been the catalyst for all that followed, but things don’t get off to a good start in
Stardust. No sooner has he touched down stateside, Bowie is told he lacks the necessary visa to perform. His superstar aspirations are further dashed when Ron Oberman (Marc Maron), the Mercury Records publicist organising the tour, greets Bowie at the airport and shows him to his ride . in the back of his waiting parent’s car. What unfolds feels at times like a road movie, with Oberman chauffeuring Bowie between disastrous morning radi