When New York journalist Arthur Stuart is asked to write a 'whatever happened to...' article on British bisexual glam rock star Brian Slade (alias Maxwell Demon), what ensues is a Welles-esque (Orson, not H.G.) series of flashbacks that reveal as much about our beloved journalist as about the glorious David Bowie caricature that is Brian Slade.

This movie is written and directed with as much glitz and glitter as the era it seeks to pay homage to. The lead performances are wonderful, especially those of Rhys-Meyers as Slade, and the versatile Ewan McGregor as Curt Wild (equal part Iggy Pop and Kurt Cobain). Featuring a scorching soundtrack by the best of what today's Britain has to offer (Placebo, Thom Yorke, etc) and some gems from the era itself (Eno, Roxy Music, Lou Reed), this film is as much video clip as it is feature film. However it is still a richly engaging tale, and well worth the time you'll spend. Just don't expect everyone to understand the plot.

The five principals come together on one fateful night in 1992 Madrid. Victor (Rabal) has fallen for a woman, Elena (Neri), with whom he had sex a week ago. Elena, however, wants nothing more to do with Victor, and when he shows up at her apartment she uses a gun to scare him away. A shot is fired and the cops are called. Arriving at Elena's apartment are two partners, David (Bardem) and Sancho (Sancho), who are in the midst of a crisis in their friendship. Sancho, a chronic, abusive drunk, believes that his wife, Clara (Molina), is having an affair, and he suspects David of being Clara's lover. What happens when the police break down the door to Elena's apartment sets off a chain of events that reverberate through time to a period four years later, when circumstances bring the characters together once again, albeit in a vastly different situation.

Live Flesh is really a mystery, which is why I won't give a more detailed plot description. This isn't a crime thriller, however - it's an exploration of characters' motives, secrets, and true emotions. While there is a little gunplay, the core of Live Flesh lies in the complexity of how these five individuals interact. They are all wrapped in a web of consequences, with each one hurting the others multiple times, and the strands around them growing ever thicker. These are rich, believable individuals involved in relationships that defy the facile conventions of what movies typically present as romances, friendships, and rivalries. The ending is surprising, not because it doesn't fit, but because, knowing all that we do about the involved parties, it's the perfect way to offer closure to the tale.