Once Cale departed after one too many disagreements with Reed, replaced by Doug Yule, Haynes didn’t so much lose interest in the story as realise his point had already been made.

No one should expect a standard account of the band’s progress: although it’s mostly chronological, Haynes is enamoured with the classic lineup of Reed, Cale, Morrison, and Tucker. Their lives somehow feel both very present and very distant. All the seductive intensity of Warhol’s Factory scene – The Velvet Underground were his house band for a time – flashes across the screen, legendary artists appearing – poet Allen Ginsberg, filmmaker Jonas Mekas, Warhol icon Mary Woronov, writer Amy Taubin, musician La Monte Young – and disappearing just as quickly. The documentary is also a poetic snapshot of New York City in the 60’s. Cale discusses cooly and calmly his contentious relationship with Reed and authoritatively talks about music but it’s Tucker that really captivates: this little woman, competing with the egos of Cale and Reed, the famed beauty of Nico, the laidback talent of Sterling Morrison on guitar, was always there during the madness and the ecstasy as she recalls those times, now aged 77, she remains remarkably humble about it all. Maureen “Moe” Tucker, their effervescent and charismatic drummer, is interviewed at length, as is John Cale, the only two remaining members from the original lineup. Instead, he weaves archival footage, often captured by Warhol himself, still photos from 60’s New York, and talking together in an avante-garde composition. The artistic direction of Haynes’ film was predetermined by the sad fact that very little concert footage of The Velvet Underground is available. It’s an electric symbiosis, audience and artist connected by Haynes in a completely unexpected way as Reed and Cale narrate their own lives in the background of the split screen, it’s as if they’re listening to it for the first time with us. There’s Lou Reed, eyes screaming hatred for something, for anything, with the glint of genius lurking too there’s the cool detachment of John Cale, the look of a man who knows his superior musical talent. The Velvet Underground were famously associated with Andy Warhol and The Factory and Haynes makes wonderful use of Warholian split screens throughout, longform shots of the band members staring simply but intensely into the camera. It’s Documentary As Performance, unsurprising from the director who made a Bob Dylan biopic featuring six different actors (including, most stunningly, Cate Blanchett) portraying the icon. His documentary is artful and unconventional, disturbing and alienating, four words that could also describe The Velvet Underground themselves.

New the velvet underground movie