The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground, directed by Todd Haynes, is exactly the sort of film you might expect to document the rise and fall of the legendary New York band that was mesmerizingly mind-blowing but also totally unpredictable and often frustratingly opaque. Haynes's film is all of the above—not surprising when you consider two of the director's earlier unconventional films about contemporary music: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1988), which whittles plastic Barbie dolls to depict the singer's struggles with anorexia; and I'm Not There (2007), in which six different actors portray characters inspired by the life and music of Bob Dylan. In some ways, Haynes's newest film is slightly more conventional. He interviews onscreen twenty individuals who have firsthand knowledge of the Velvet Underground, including two core members of the band: multi-instrumentalist John Cale and drummer Maureen “Moe” Tucker. Other core members—its founder and leader Lou Reed, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and chanteuse Nico—died in 2013, 1995, and 1988, respectively, but appear by way of archival film and audio recordings

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