The velvet underground vu11/12/2022 ![]() MacLise suggested that this evocative title should be the name of the band and that was that. Tony Conrad, late-great filmmaker and musician (and past-member of ToEM) allegedly found a copy of the “Velvet Underground” book tossed on the street. John Cale had initially collaborated with Reed on the recording of the single “The Ostrich” he and Angus MacLise first met in the Theatre of Eternal Music. Sterling Morrison was a college friend of Reed’s and they paired-up post-Primitives. Lou Reed, from the start, was somewhat of the “Dylan school”: a fantastic poet and clever songwriter with a voice that could be considered an acquired taste. Thereafter, they were even known for a brief moment as the Falling Spikes. Then they were the Warlocks (also a pre-fame name for the Grateful Dead). The ‘maker of Safe takes the unsafe route with The Velvet Underground’s plentiful imagery and apt assemblage of assorted recordings throughout the band’s divergent career.įirst, they were the Primitives (later the name of an entirely different band). It cannot lose! True to form, The Velvet Underground(the film) plays to Todd Haynes’ - and the band’s - many strengths (despite occasionally succumbing to a few first-time non-fiction filmmaker foibles). On paper, an iconoclastic and influential director is the ideal choice for a documentary about one of the most iconoclastic and influential bands of all-time. That certainly isn’t true of most movies these days which do far too little with the extraordinary tools available to them (and particularly many documentaries with their flat, made-for-television dimensions) and yet this one would definitely benefit from being seen on the “big screen” - and, ideally, the biggest screen available - since the frame is intermittently halved or quartered throughout its nearly two-hour duration. It is also said that films should primarily be seen in a cinema-setting. Obviously, neither of those things are true and yet, like sardonic humor, there is a bit of truth hidden within Brian Eno’s oft-quoted remark, nonetheless. It is said that a mere few-thousand folks bought the first VU album when it was released but that all of them started their own bands. Then, once pivotal members disappear from the group and it all changes shape into something more musically pedestrian, the film stops progressing with the chronology. With a title simply as-is - no subtitle to further clarify, just the name-of-the-band-from-the-title-of-a-book alone - the implication is that this is a complete history of the Velvet Underground. I cannot be more thankful that this documentary exists at all. An unconventional musical group requires an unconventional tale-telling, no doubt. When your subject-matter is as kinetic as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Danny Williams’ and Andy Warhol’s inspired collision of light and sound, how do you effectively represent that kaleidoscopic cacophony on the screen? A cinematic kludge, perhaps, of cleverly assembled odds-and-ends. Like what you see here on Hammer to Nail? Why not give just $1.00 per month via Patreon to help keep us going?) (Todd Haynes turns his lens towards the indelible Velvet Underground in the doc, The Velvet Underground which is in theaters as well as streaming today on Apple TV. ![]()
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