![]() ![]() But it’s still John Cale, and this is my gift to the surviving members of The Velvet Underground. Of course, I know he digs the movie, and he’s just been such a generous partner in the making of the movie. We showed him a cut, but he’ll be with us at the screening and I’m insanely excited and a little nervous. Actually, tonight in Los Angeles, John Cale will be watching the film for the first time on the screen. I have all of it that he expressed in the film, but I’m hardly an expert of the sixty cycles per second that he was using as his register. What was Cale hitting on with the drone of Western civilization? I’ve read a little about the difference between 440-megahertz tuning. I wanted to know more about the hum of the refrigerator being used as a pitch. So, all that stuff was part of the discovery process that was so fascinating. I may have heard like one or two of the early rock and roll songs of Lou when he was the Jades, but not to this degree. I mean, I had heard “The Ostrich” before, but I don’t think I’d really spent time with Lamont Young’s recordings before this film. The director spoke with Den of Geek about contradictions and the contradictory musicians who made up Velvet Underground.ĭen of Geek: Were you surprised at all by the pre-Velvet Underground music of Lou Reed or John Cale? He may never have jammed with them, but is nonetheless a card-carrying member of the Velvet Underground movement. ![]() Haynes is obviously a fan of the band beyond the sound. It is not an exposé, but an exploration of the band’s music and aesthetic. The Velvet Underground is dedicated to Jonas Mekas, a father of the American avant-garde-film movement, and the film captures the feel of Andy Warhol’s older films. Almost everyone who bought it started a band, as they say. The Velvet Underground’s first album only sold 30,000 copies, but they were the right copies. With John Cale as the centerpiece and Lou Reed providing a structuring absence, the underground art scene of 1960s New York City is not just a character in the film, but a member of the group. We hear from Reed’s sister, Merrill Reed Weiner Warhol Factory artists Mary Woronov and Amy Taubin cult director John Waters and Modern Lovers front man Jonathan Richman. The Velvet Underground only includes interviews with people who knew the band personally during the time they were together. Besides contemporary interviews with John Cale and drummer Maureen Tucker, there is only archival footage of conversations with Reed, guitarist Sterling Morrison and Christa Päffgen – whose stage name was Nico. Haynes had been developing the documentary for several years. For his latest musical transposition, he focused on tones over reinterpretation. Haynes built a story for David Bowie to sit in for Velvet Goldmine, recharacterized Bob Dylan sixfold in I’m Not There, and cast a Barbie Doll as Karen Carpenter in his 2015 biopic Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. It is the first time he hasn’t put a fictional spin on the musicians he’s committed to celluloid. He tells the story of the band in chronological time, but fills in the blanks by presenting a performance piece of historical art. Todd Haynes is more of a conductor than the director of The Velvet Underground. ![]()
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