Film Review: "The Velvet Underground" (2021).

From the director of Far from Heaven and Dark Waters comes The Velvet Underground. This documentary film co-produced and directed by Todd Haynes. This hypnotic new documentary and the first major film to tell the band’s legendary story. The Velvet Underground created a new sound that changed the world of music, cementing its place as one of rock and roll’s most revered bands. This kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.

In 1964, the American rock band, The Velvet Underground, was formed. Their integration of rock and the avant-garde achieved little commercial success during the group's existence, but they are now recognized as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music. The group's provocative subject matter, musical experiments, and often nihilistic attitudes also proved influential in the development of punk rock and new wave music. In 1965, the group settled on the name The Velvet Underground after they performed under a number of names. In 1966, pop artist Andy Warhol became their manager and they served as the house band at Warhol's "the Factory" and Warhol's traveling multimedia show, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. In 1967, their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico was released to critical indifference and poor sales but has since drawn wide acclaim. They released three more albums in 1968, 1969 and 1970, with none performing up to the expectations of record labels or of Lou Reed, the band's leader. In the early 1970s, the group functionally disbanded as everyone except Doug Yule left the band. In 1973, an abortive UK tour with Yule as the band leader and with new musicians followed, and a final album released in the band's name, Squeeze (1973) marked the end of the band for some time. All of the members continued to collaborate on each other's solo work throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and a retrospective "rarities" album, VU, was released in 1985. In the early 1990s, a full reunion of the band came, and releasing a live album from the tour, Live MCMXCIII. In 1995, after Sterling Morrison's death, the remaining three members played together for a single performance at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1996, the last time the band performed together musically. In 2004, the Velvet Underground were ranked number 19 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 2017, a study of AllMusic's catalog indicated the group as the fifth most frequently cited artist influence in its database.

Haynes' sublime documentary serves as an awesome crash course on the underappreciated titular rock band and what made their music so revolutionary (at times, to the mainstream chagrin). This film is a gift for Velvet Underground fans. But while I like one or two of their songs, I couldn't take a whole album. The biographical sections and interviews with the members and others were engaging. It's the kind of film that makes us want to revisit all of the band's songs and just get lost in them all over again.

Simon says The Velvet Underground receives:

Also, see my review for Dark Waters.