Coincidentally, I was reading in the paper today that Ringo Starr says he'll never write an autobiography because eight years of his life are all that interest the public, whereas he'd already lived enough for five volumes of autobiography even before he joined the Beatles. In the case of Jobriath, you'd expect even a shorter interesting period. If the public remembers him at all, it's as a failed novelty act, and his career was over almost before it began. But this documentary makes his earlier life, and his later life, just as interesting as his brief publicity splash if not more so. First of all, he wasn't just a nobody who met a Svengali; he was an unusually talented composer, and we hear flashes of originality, sadly enough, not in the music of his that was promoted but in other compositions that happen to have been picked up on home recordings. And surprisingly, although dispirited by his commercial failure, he managed afterward to open a chapter 2 of his life. The movie presents the whole arc in an elegantly structured way, and if it were a novel you might here and there complain that the story is just too good to be believable. I did catch myself wondering whether the movie was part fact and part hoax. But I guess it's just that truth is stranger than fiction.

Kieran Turner's fascinating documentary of doomed early 1970s glam-rock singer Jobriath, arguably the first openly-gay celebrity in post-Stonewall America. Several years before Elton John admitted in a print interview that he was bisexual, Jobriath released two non-charting albums before slowly, painfully realizing the country wasn't ready for an in-your-face effeminate rock star. Born Bruce Wayne Campbell in Philadelphia in 1946, the gifted young man from a broken home began to paint and write music at an early age. A featured performer in the L.A. touring company of "Hair", the self-christened Jobriath Boone eventually came in contact with music manager Jerry Brandt, a maestro of hype with money and connections (and a yearning for celebrity himself),who entered into a 50-50 split with the singer (patterned after Elvis' pact with Colonel Tom Parker). Jobriath wrote and recorded his songs for Elektra while Brandt saturated east coast media with publicity on the heretofore unknown singer, a plan that backfired when the public turned out to be completely indifferent to Jobriath's complicated musical arrangements and Ziggy Stardust-like persona. Looking back, maybe all Jobriath needed in these early stages was a hit single. Unfortunately, his records, in a glam rock-meets-opera groove, weren't catchy or commercial. This story of a desire for fame in the modern age, narrated by Henry Rollins and featuring a host of interviews from people who were there, turns out to be a paint-by-numbers free fall to Earth, but an intriguing and devastating one. Jobriath was ahead of his time, certainly...and yet one wonders, will the times ever catch up with Jobriath? *** from ****

Clearly Jobriath was ahead of his time and he influenced so many artists (Scissor Sisters, Morrissey, Def Leppard, Pet Shop Boys) after his death. This beautiful documentary captures the tumultuous times he shared with Jerry Brandt, and if what Jerry prophesied in the movie was true, then the public will see a Jobriath musical, book, movie, etc. Personally I cannot wait to see more of what comes of this 1st chapter of the resurrection of Jobraith into the mainstream. Unfortunately I saw this movie at The Inside Out Film Festival in Toronto, and it was not well attended. I was disappointed to see so few in the audience. Jobriath: A tragic life that left a powerful and controversial artistic legacy. A beautiful testament to an artistic ideal and the spectre of commercial greed existing amidst a sea of influential power brokers and conservative media in the rock music scene of the 1970's. Jobriath's battle for fame and artistic acceptance was too great for him and Jerry Brandt to win over. The forces of homophobia in the 1970's by the media critics and negative attitude of record companies was too great to overcome. This movie touched my heart, punched me in the guts and grabbed my balls. And made my spirit soar.