Review: The Velvet Underground

Image courtesy of Apple.

On the one hand, Todd Haynes' documentary "The Velvet Underground," which chronicles the creation and eventual dissolution of one of America's seminal rock 'n roll bands, displays the characteristics of your typical rock doc - the origins of the band, the back stories of its members, the moment they clicked, their longstanding influence and, in the case of this band, the eventual breakup.

And yet, the film feels quite unlike most music documentaries. While the story goes from point A (the creation of the band) to point B (its breakup) in a linear style and features some talking head interviews with everyone from surviving members John Cale and Maureen Tucker and musician Jonathan Richman (of The Modern Lovers) to director John Waters and avant garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas (who founded the Anthology Film Archives), it's an aural and visual experience in the style of one of Andy Warhol's films - the pop artist icon produced the band's debut record - blended with a visual representation of how the Velvets sounded: haunting, discordant, otherworldly, chaotic.

At times, much like Warhol's "Chelsea Girls," split screens are telling several parts of the story at once, with the narrative of the band's formation on one side, and scenes of yesteryear in New York City or Warhol's screen tests of Reed or Cale on the other. So, ultimately, the end result is that the film feels less like your typical music documentary, although containing the basic structure of one, and more like a live performance by the Velvet Underground, with flashing lights, the droning sounds often present in their music and a slight sense of being off balance. 

Then again, it shouldn't be surprising that the film does such a good job of capturing the band's essence. Haynes' work - when it doesn't involve remarkable 1950s pastiches like "Far from Heaven" or "Carol" - has often focused on musicians, from his incredibly strange "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story," which imagined the tragic life of the singer via Barbie dolls, to his glam rock extravaganza "Velvet Goldmine" and his absolutely brilliant treatise on Bob Dylan, "I'm Not There." While "The Velvet Underground" is his first documentary, it fits right into his wheelhouse.

This is also not a movie with a sole aim to praise the brilliance of its subjects and gloss over any unglamorous aspects. Amy Taubin, the film critic who (previously unbeknownst to me) spent a fair amount of time at Warhol's Factory, notes at one point that women at the Factory were primarily there for their looks, and had a hard time being taken seriously otherwise, although both Warhol and the Velvets, according to this documentary at least, appeared to be taken by Nico's otherworldly presence during her contribution to "The Velvet Underground & Nico" album.

Also, as brilliant an artist as he was, Reed is often portrayed as difficult, both to work with and as a friend. He fired Warhol after the band's first two albums, and eventually pushed Cale out of the band. Cale, who is the most extensively interviewed member during the documentary, is also described as a temperamental artist by others, and it's not kept a secret that the band members became increasingly aggressive and hostile toward each other on the road and during recording sessions, which was why albums like "White Light/White Heat" felt pretty intense.

One of the aspects that Haynes does a great job of capturing and using cinematic techniques at representing is the band's improvisational nature. Cale notes on more than one occasion that this element made their live performances unique, and was the aspect of the band that was most appealing to him - he started in Wales as a classical performer. Haynes' film often feels improvisational by nature, compiling the interviews from his subjects to lay out the general story, but often allowing the conversation to veer in different directions in a manner that feels loose, but by no means lacking direction.

And while Warhol's work - especially "Chelsea Girls" and his extremely long static shot of the Empire State Building titled "Empire" - is scattered throughout the documentary, Haynes also makes great use of a number of other iconic experimental films of the era, including Jack Smith's raunchy "Flaming Creatures" and Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising." 

Brian Eno once famously said that The Velvet Underground didn't sell many records at the time when they were together, but that everyone who bought one of their records went out and started a band. It's easy to see why. This is a fascinating look at one of the U.S.'s most unique bands. Haynes has made a chronicle of the band in a manner that has captured its members' voices and would likely make them proud.