Velvet Goldmine

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

A bold, operatic look back at 1970s glam rock. With all the style and flamboyance that defined the short-lived period, director Haynes re-creates the decadent era of David Bowie (though his character is the fictional Brian Slade, played by Rhys Meyers), with glittery asexual characters, guitar rock and gender-bending at its best. McGregor plays Slade's American counterpart, with whom he forms a sexual and musical partnership. The film alternates back and forth between the 1970s and the 1980s, when a journalist (Bale) is investigating Blade's disappearance.