Andy Warhol made a 3-minute film of Lou Reed's mouth smoking. That's it. That's cinema.
A close-up of Lou Reed’s mouth, as he takes nine drags on a cigarette, smiles a couple of times, licks his lips, and grimaces. Made for projection behind the Velvet Underground in performance as part of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable multi-media presentation.
Direction
Warhol's 'just point and exist' aesthetic invented an entire movement.
Cinematography
Extreme close-up so tight it becomes abstract landscape.
Director
Andy Warhol
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Warhol's 'Screen Tests' series—472 silent portraits of Factory regulars shot at 24fps but projected at 16fps to create dreamlike slow motion. Reed's was one of the few repurposed for live performance.
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable essentially invented the modern concert visualizer; without this, no Beyoncé Coachella screens. You're welcome.
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