How did Reed go from the dance song “The Ostrich” to “Heroin,” which is sort of about what you think it is? How did Cale toggle between an affinity for popular music and a New York avant garde that pulled him into its embrace? Haynes doesn’t spell it out too clearly. They also shared an affinity for taking rudiments of popular American music and finding new ways to express them.
They shared working-class family backgrounds an ocean apart. Haynes presents two key histories, those of singer, lyricist and guitarist Lou Reed from New York and multi-instrumentalist John Cale from Wales. To wit, artist and provocateur Andy Warhol - the band’s early champion and “producer” - doesn’t show up until 51 minutes into a two-hour film, and “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” its first album, follows by a few minutes. Haynes’ story creates its own pace, admirably. He made a film that feels of a kind with the subject. But it’s not interested in the constructs that led the documentary-film format to be parodied by TV’s “Documentary Now.” Haynes jettisons the traditional role of talking heads he dispatches incidental music he regards emotional arcs and sentimentality the way he might a toothache. “The Velvet Underground” is more traditional than both of those films. Given Haynes’ provocative filmography - which includes a film about Karen Carpenter made using dolls, and a Bob Dylan film that defies simple explanation - this is no surprise. It’s reverent and informed but not at all interested in converting the unconverted. By comparison, “The Velvet Underground” is Todd Haynes’ valentine, though he cut his heart from black construction paper. “The Sparks Brothers,” directed by Edgar Wright, came out earlier this year and served as both a valentine and a get-out-the-vote recruiting effort for those unaware of a most peculiar Los Angeles band that plugged along mixing camp and melancholy for 50 years. If history is told by the victors, music history is often told by band members who live the longest, which can be problematic. Still, artist approval and involvement can also cause them to feel stilted. Documentaries require no such contortion. The lowest of the low are music biopics, known more for casting and costuming than narrative. So then you’re left with cinematic storytellers who come with perspective and prejudices. There’s no substitute for being there, whether “there” is a concert or the first time you play a particular album. Music and film feel like they should intertwine naturally, but they don’t always do so. Both proved wholly satisfying for two entirely different reasons, despite both being about what you’d classify as “cult bands,” meaning rock ’n’ roll ensembles that created great fervor among a muted quantity of fans - at least initially.
Which makes the past year a cause for celebration since “The Sparks Brothers” and “The Velvet Underground” were both released, as the two could not be more different. I’ve seen a handful of terrible music docs and perhaps hundreds of middling ones. With that in mind, there’s still a fine line between history and hagiography, between style and substance, between the music and the mundane. No two music films should dress the same. Often the best music documentaries wear the clothes of their subjects rather than the clothes of the documentary-film form, which can slip into a boilerplate jumpsuit of talking heads and performance clips. (Nat Finkelstein/Courtesy Apple TV+/TNS) Photo: Nat Finkelstein/Courtesy Apple TV+, HO / TNS
#THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE HOW TO#
The film features in-depth interviews with the key players of that time combined with a treasure trove of never-before-seen performances and a rich collection of recordings, Warhol films, and other experimental art that creates an immersive experience into what founding member John Cale describes as the band's creative ethos: "how to be elegant and how to be brutal.From left, Maureen "Moe" Tucker, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Lou Reed in archival photography from "The Velvet Underground," premiering globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, Oct. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Todd Haynes, "The Velvet Underground" shows just how the group became a cultural touchstone representing a range of contradictions: the band is both of their time, yet timeless literary yet realistic rooted in high art and street culture. The Velvet Underground created a new sound that changed the world of music, cementing its place as one of rock 'n' roll's most revered bands. The Velvet Underground (2021) Primary Poster The Velvet Underground Plot
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