Eerily capturing Curtis otherworldly voice and shamanesque stage demeanor, Riley transforms this troubled, likable young man into an embodiment of alienation and the hero of disaffected youth and angry young men and women everywhere. His Curtis channels both the brooding Lizard King of Jim Morrison and sexualized android of David Bowie.

Directed by Netherlands-born music-video veteran Anton Corbijn, the black-and-white film is based on a memoir by Curtis widow, Deborah, who is also credited as co-author of the screenplay along with British scribe Matt Greenhalgh. This perhaps explains why the other woman comes across as a boring, marriage-destroying twit.