- THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE MOVIE
- THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE FULL
- THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE SERIES
- THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE TV
We’re talking the movie vocabulary of Jack Smith, Velvets patron Andy Warhol, or the late Jonas Mekas. Here, he utilizes early-to-mid-Sixties New York experimental film techniques in telling this story. Haynes made some of cinematic history’s most controversial-if-effective outré rock hagiography: glam odyssey Velvet Goldmine, off-center Bob Dylan “biopic” I’m Not There. Most nastiness seems directed at the film’s format. Ask David Bowie, Jonathan Richman (a teenage Velvets devotee interviewed herein), Iggy Pop, the New York Dolls, most every early NYC punk act, Sonic Youth, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club … or locals the Black Angels, named for a song on the first VU album. Most notices read like a younger generation flexing its muscles, dismissing historically significant culture simply out of a misguided notion of Youth Asserting Itself: “Oh, this is from the past?! Never heard of them! Who cares?!” But the simple fact of the matter is: The Velvet Underground invented glam/punk/indie/noise in the Sixties, with more aplomb and ability than anyone attempting to stride in their Cuban-heeled wake to this day.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND screens exclusively in the St.Curious, the tepid-to-bad reviews filtering from Cannes this past summer over The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes’ cinematic valentine to underground rock’s most influential band.
The group seems worthy of an engrossing cinematic recollection but this visually erratic and haphazardly cut fever dream from Haynes will not add many new fans for THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. Oh, and those Warhol unflinching static shot close-ups haven’t become more charming with age. There are also a few celebs like Jonathan Richmond, Jackson Browne, and Warhol “superstar” Mary Woronov (who joins Moe in a rant against those “hippie flower kids”), but they don’t truly enlighten or illuminate. Sure, we hear from surviving members of the VU, along with family members and old pals of those departed, but they’re generic talking heads as the ever-changing “slide show” numbs us. As he presents the original band members, 2/3 of the screen is taken up by a “locked-down” headshot from the Warhol factory with each musician trying not to blink while assorted archival stills and news footage flash by in countless boxes (one sequence looks like the Brady Bunch opening titles times six). After the game show epilogue, he fills the screen with multiple images, often distracting from the music snippets and the more recent interview subjects. Those hoping for an involving introduction to the iconic group will be dumbstruck for the sensory overload orchestrated by Haynes. VU continued to make music through the 60s until 1973, a couple of years after Reed left to embark on a lauded solo career.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE FULL
After the exit of Nico, the band finally broke with Warhol, who made their shows a full media “happening’ with projected film and slides.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE SERIES
Eventually, he would manage the band in 1966 and soon he would pair them with the exotic actress/model Nico for a series of live shows and record albums. Despite the personality clashes and indulgencies (including heroin), their dark-themed songs caught the attention of art icon Andy Warhol who made them the “house band” for his “factory”. Eventually Maureen (Moe) Tucker came aboard as the band’s drummer as they decided on the new moniker, The Velvet Underground. They became a fixture of the hip, young New York scene as The Primitives which included Sterling Morrison. We’re then plunged into the changing cultural landscape of the 1960s as Cale meets an intense young poet/guitarist named Lou Reed. The audience titters when told of the “secret”: pianist John Cale played an 18-hour concert (he was joined by the only attendee that stuck it out).
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MOVIE TV
This story begins, oddly enough, with a grainy kinescope of the CBS TV game show staple, “I’ve Got a Secret’. He’s the force behind the new film that chronicles the history of a most influential band that merged rock and roll with the avant-garde, a group of acclaimed musical talents known as THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. Now another similar director enters the fray, Todd Haynes, who last told the story of corporate polluters in the “based on real events” drama DARK WATERS. Another lauded film was the profile of the rock band Sparks, titled simply THE SPARKS BROTHERS, which set itself apart from many doc features in that it was helmed by a director who’s mainly known for fiction films, Edgar Wright.
This past year we’ve seen several very entertaining documentary features set in the world of music, particularly SUMMER OF SOUL.
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