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The Velvet Underground

  • 20212021
  • RR
  • 2h 1m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
The Velvet Underground (2021)
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. Directed with the era's avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.
Play trailer2:16
1 Video
13 Photos
  • Documentary
  • Music
The Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.The Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.The Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Todd Haynes
  • Writer
    • Todd Haynes
  • Stars
    • John Waters
    • Mary Woronov
    • Jackson Browne
Top credits
  • Director
    • Todd Haynes
  • Writer
    • Todd Haynes
  • Stars
    • John Waters
    • Mary Woronov
    • Jackson Browne
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 40User reviews
    • 63Critic reviews
    • 87Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 36 nominations

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:16
    Official Trailer

    Photos13

    Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, The Velvet Underground, and Doug Yule in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    John Cale, Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, The Velvet Underground, and Andy Warhol in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    Todd Haynes at an event for The Velvet Underground (2021)
    John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, and The Velvet Underground in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    Andy Warhol in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed, and The Velvet Underground in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    Lou Reed and Andy Warhol in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    John Cale, Lou Reed, and The Velvet Underground in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed, and The Velvet Underground in The Velvet Underground (2021)
    Rose Harlean attending the premiere of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (directed by Todd Haynes) At the 74th Cannes Film Festival, July 2021
    Rose Harlean attending the premiere of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (directed by Todd Haynes) At the 74th Cannes Film Festival, July 2021
    The Velvet Underground (2021)

    Top cast

    Edit
    John Waters
    John Waters
    • Selfas Self
    Mary Woronov
    Mary Woronov
    • Selfas Self
    Jackson Browne
    Jackson Browne
    • Selfas Self
    Barbara Walters
    Barbara Walters
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Lou Reed
    Lou Reed
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Jonathan Richman
    Jonathan Richman
    • Selfas Self
    Jonas Mekas
    Jonas Mekas
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    John Cale
    John Cale
    • Selfas Self
    Allen Ginsberg
    Allen Ginsberg
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Sterling Morrison
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Danny Fields
    Danny Fields
    • Selfas Self
    La Monte Young
    • Selfas Self
    Amy Taubin
    • Selfas Self
    Doug Yule
    • Selfas Self
    Merrill Reed Weiner
    • Selfas Self
    Maureen Tucker
    • Selfas Self
    Allan Hyman
    • Selfas Self
    Joseph Freeman
    • Selfas Self
    • Director
      • Todd Haynes
    • Writer
      • Todd Haynes
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      After Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison quit the band, it carried on for a time with Doug Yule becoming the frontman on vocals and guitar. Moe Tucker also stayed with the band after her return from parental leave and they were joined by a new bassist and keyboardist. This lineup toured the Loaded album around parts of North America and Europe in 1971. A fifth studio album was released for a UK record label under the Velvet Underground name: 1973's Squeeze. All members bar Doug Yule were sent back to the United States in 1972 and Yule recorded all parts except the drums by Deep Purple's Ian Paice, saxophone by someone called Malcolm and some unidentified female backing vocals. Recording the album as essentially a Doug Yule solo effort was at the instruction of manager Steve Seswick, who had earlier brought Yule to the band and had long pushed for the Velvets to adopt a more commercial style with Yule at its centre. Yule himself was displeased at Seswick's control of the process. While Yule had been a significant creative force, albeit secondary to Lou Reed, on the celebrated Loaded album, Squeeze is much-maligned. It received terrible reviews, though it has gained some appreciators over the years. It is typically considered a Velvets record in name only. At around the same time as the official Velvet Underground were being reduced to Seswick's Doug Yule project, Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico had also been in Europe for a reunion performance in Paris in 1972, which was bootlegged and eventually released under the name Le Bataclan '72. Footage from this reunion performance is included in this film.
    • Connections
      Features Pierrette I (1924)
    • Soundtracks
      Heroin
      Written by Lou Reed

      Performed by The Velvet Underground

    User reviews40

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    Must-see documentary on the trailblazing band
    As "The Velvet Underground" (2021 release; 115 min.) opens, we are introduced to young Lou Reed, whose family moved out to Long Island when he was 7, the start of a long journey that eventually sees him landing in Manhattan in the early 60s. We then shift to John Cale's background and early life in Wales, where he learns the viola. He ends up in New York in 1963. The movie reminds us what life in New Yok was like in the early 60s: "we are not counter-culture, we ARE the culture." At this point we are 10 min into the film.

    Couple of comments: this is the latest film from acclaimed director Todd Haynes ("I'm Not There", "Carol", "Dark Wates"). In other words: this pretty much guaranteed that this would not be your typical rock documentary . It's also not just about the Velvet Underground, but the whole New York arts scene in the 1960s including Andy Warhol's Factory. "It was Andy Warhol who made the first album possible", claims a talking head (implying that without the famous cover art and with Nico's presence, the debut album would've never seen the light of day). Ah yes, Nico. She gets her due as well, and then some. Along the way we get treated to a slew of rare if ever before seen film footage and photos from that era. The first hour of this documentary, which carries us up and through 1965, is a perfect 5 stars, and had me just watching in complete fascinations with it all. The second hour of the documentary is not nearly as good. Much of the talking heads' (including surviving members John Cale and Maureen Tucker) interviews was filmed in 2018. (Did you know that Jackson Browne regularly played with Nico during her early solo gigs?)

    "The Velvet Underground" premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival to immediate critical acclaim, and Apple TV eagerly snapped it up. The movie was released in select theaters for a limited run, and thankfully my art-house theater here in Cincinnati had it in its lineup as from this weekend. The Saturday matinee show where I saw this at was attended so-so (7 people in total including myself). If you are a fan of the Velvet Underground or are simply interested in a slice of rock history. I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (while you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
    helpful•12
    7
    • paul-allaer
    • Oct 18, 2021

    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 15, 2021 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Ban nhạc the Velvet Underground
    • Production companies
      • Motto Pictures
      • Killer Content
      • Digital One
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      2 hours 1 minute
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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