THE VELVET UNDERGROUND – Review

This past year we’ve seen several very entertaining documentary features set in the world of music, particularly SUMMER OF SOUL. 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. 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. 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.

This story begins, oddly enough, with a grainy kinescope of the CBS TV game show staple, “I’ve Got a Secret’. 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). We’re then plunged into the changing cultural landscape of the 1960s as Cale meets an intense young poet/guitarist named Lou Reed. They became a fixture of the hip, young New York scene as The Primitives which included Sterling Morrison. Eventually Maureen (Moe) Tucker came aboard as the band’s drummer as they decided on the new moniker, The Velvet Underground. 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, 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. After the exit of Nico, the band finally broke with Warhol, who made their shows a full media “happening’ with projected film and slides. VU continued to make music through the 60s until 1973, a couple of years after Reed left to embark on a lauded solo career.

Those hoping for an involving introduction to the iconic group will be dumbstruck for the sensory overload orchestrated by Haynes. After the game show epilogue, he fills the screen with multiple images, often distracting from the music snippets and the more recent interview subjects. 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). 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. 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. Oh, and those Warhol unflinching static shot close-ups haven’t become more charming with age. 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. Now, where’s the Dramamine?

1 Out of 4

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas and begins streaming on Apple TV + on October 15, 2021