Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams

Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams (2018) is a documentary you can watch online on iFILM, tracing the band's twenty-year climb from Camden pubs to sold-out stadiums.

Director Mat Whitecross had unusual access — he started filming Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion back when they were students sharing cramped London flats. The film stitches together home video, backstage footage and live takes of "Fix You" and "Viva La Vida." What holds it together isn't the fame; it's the friendship that survives the band's rough patches.

Bruno Mars, Beyoncé and producer Brian Eno turn up along the way. This is a portrait made from the inside, so it shows the near-breakups as plainly as the triumphs. Worth a look even if you're lukewarm on the music — it's really about keeping four grown men in one room for two decades. Stream Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams online on iFILM.