Published
[New York, N.Y.] : The Criterion Collection, [2022].
Edition
Director-approved two-DVD special edition., Widescreen.
Notes
General Note
Title and credits from screen.
General Note
Widescreen (1.77:1).
General Note
Originally released as a motion picture in 2021.
General Note
Accompanied by booklet containing essay by critic Greil Marcus.
General Note
Special features: Alternate stereo soundtrack; 2022 audio commentary with director Todd Haynes and editors Affonso Gonçalves, Adam Kurnitz; Interview outtakes with Jonas Mekas, Mary Woronov and Jonathan Richman; Todd Hayes, John Cale, Maureen Woronov in conversation with Jenn Pelly; Complete versions of some of the avant-garde films excerpted in the movie (Award presentation to Andy Warhol / Jonathan Mekas, 1964; Venus in furs / Piero Heliczer, 1965; Walden: diaries, notes and sketches / Jonas Mekas, 1964-69); teaser; essay by critic Greil Marcus.
Creation/Production Credits
Editors, Affonso Gonçalves, Adam Kurnitz ; cinematography, Ed Lachman ; music supervision, Randall Poster.
Participants/Performers
Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker, Nico, Doug Yule, Merrill Reed-Weiner, Allan Hyman, Henry Flynt, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, Richard Mishkin and others.
Description
Emerging from the primordial soup of glamour, gutter sleaze, and feverish creativity that was New York's 1960s underground culture, the Velvet Underground redefined music with its at once raw and exalted blend of experimentation and art-damaged rock and roll. In his kaleidoscopic documentary The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes vividly evokes the band's incandescent world: the creative origins of the twin visionaries Lou Reed and John Cale, Andy Warhol's fabled Factory, and the explosive tension between pop and the avant-garde that propelled the group and ultimately consumed it. Never-before-seen performances, interviews, rare recordings, and mind-blowing transmissions from the era's avant-garde cinema scene come together in an ecstatic swirl of sound and image that is to the traditional music documentary what the Velvets were to rock: utterly revolutionary.
Description
Emerging from the primordial soup of glamour, gutter sleaze, and feverish creativity that was New Yorks 1960s underground culture, the Velvet Underground redefined music with its at once raw and exalted blend of experimentation and art-damaged rock and roll. In his kaleidoscopic documentary The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes vividly evokes the band's incandescent world: the creative origins of the twin visionaries Lou Reed and John Cale, Andy Warhol's fabled Factory, and the explosive tension between pop and the avant-garde that propelled the group and ultimately consumed it. Never-before-seen performances, interviews, rare recordings, and mind-blowing transmissions from the era's avant-garde cinema scene come together in an ecstatic swirl of sound and image that is to the traditional music documentary what the Velvets were to rock: utterly revolutionary.
Target Audience
MPAA rating: R.
System Details
DVD; region 1, NTSC; Dolby digital 5.1 surround; Dolby digital 2.0 stero (not listed on container).
Language
English dialogue.