Todd Haynes doc seeks the genesis of the Velvet Underground

The most often-repeated thing said about the Velvet Underground is Brian Eno’s quip that the band didn’t sell many records, but everyone who bought one started a band

CANNES, France -- The most often-repeated thing said about the Velvet Underground is Brian Eno's quip that the band didn't sell many records, but everyone who bought one started a band. You won't hear that line in Todd Haynes' documentary “The Velvet Underground,” nor will you see a montage of famous faces talking about their vast influence. You won't even really hear a fairly full Velvet Underground track until nearly an hour into the two-hour film. Instead, Haynes, the reliably unconventional filmmaker of “Carol," “I'm Not There" and “Far From Heaven,” rejects a traditional treatment of the Velvets, a fitting approach considering the uncompromising, pioneering subject. His movie, which premiered this week at the Cannes Film Festival, is, like the Velvets, boldly artful, boundless and stimulating. You sense that even Lou Reed would be pleased by how “The Velvet Underground” refuses the obvious. “I didn't need to make a movie to tell you how great the band is,” Haynes said in an interview. “There were a lot of things I was going to be like: OK, we know this. Let's get right to how this happened, this music, where these people came from and how this miracle of this group of people came together."