Velvet Goldmine

Velvet Goldmine (1998) is Todd Haynes' music drama you can watch online on iFILM, a glitter-soaked dive into early-1970s British glam rock — face paint, androgyny and concerts pitched somewhere near hell. At its center sits a fictional idol named Brian Slade.

By 1984, a decade has passed since Slade faked his own onstage assassination and vanished. Arthur Stuart, a journalist who once worshipped him as a closeted teenager, is assigned to piece the story back together. His digging opens onto a whole era: Slade's bond with the feral American rocker Curt Wild, his marriage, his many masks. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Slade and Ewan McGregor plays Wild, with Christian Bale and Toni Collette filling out the wreckage.

Haynes builds the film as a mosaic of interviews and flashbacks, lifting its shape openly from Citizen Kane — only the press baron is now a rock god. David Bowie withheld his songs, and the loss turned into a gift: the soundtrack was written fresh. It's a film for people who love the look and swagger of glam more than a tidy plot. Stream Velvet Goldmine (1998) online on iFILM.