The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground (2021) is Todd Haynes' music documentary, and you can watch it online on iFILM. It traces a New York band that barely sold a record in its day yet reshaped everything rock became afterward.

Haynes builds the story from the people who lived it. John Cale and Maureen Tucker recall the rehearsals; friends and critics sketch the downtown scene of the 1960s. Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, the singer Nico and pop artist Andy Warhol all move through the frame — Warhol gave the group its first cover and its early stage. Forget the usual rise-and-fall format. The film leans on split screens, Warhol's screen tests and a soundtrack born from noise and risk.

What you get is a collage of an era: avant-garde art, Beat poetry, raw early performances. Haynes treats it less as biography than as a listening session, and it explains why that banana album still finds new fans decade after decade. Ideal for anyone who wants a music story told without gloss. Stream The Velvet Underground (2021) online on iFILM.