LOU REED: ROCK AND ROLL HEART

This is the only documentary about the musician, poet and composer, Lou Reed; the man who brought rock and roll into the avant garde; the man who propelled rock and roll history in the 1960's and beyond. A protégé of the great poet and writer Delmore Schwartz, Lou Reed studied at Syracuse University and on the downtown streets of Manhattan. His lyrics examine taboo adult subjects, extreme lifestyles, and the urban underground. From the beginning, his musical composition has greatly influenced generation after generation of other musicians. As Brian Eno once said about Lou Reed's seminal 1960's band, "The Velvet Underground didn't sell a lot of records, but everyone who bought one started a band". The film highlights Lou Reed's music and lyrics, and concentrates on some of his most challenging songs and albums, from the Velvet Underground recordings to his 25-year solo career. With archival footage, vintage Warhol and contemporary screen tests, still photographs, interviews with, among others, David Bowie, John Cale, Joe Dalessandro, Philip Glass and Vaclav Havel, as well as original footage shot by the director as the production follows Lou Reed at concerts and readings around the world, we are given a rare behind-the-scenes view of Lou Reed, a rock and roll myth.