Boards of Canada "Dayvan Cowboy"directed by Melissa Olson
Joseph Kittinger was obviously a brave man. He was as closest to touching the mesosphere - 50km above the Earth's surface - as a single, lone human being has ever been. He had already lost consciousness performing an earlier, lower-altitude skydive, and the jump documented in "Dayvan Cowboy" was from an altitude even greater.
The brilliance of "Dayvan Cowboy" is not just its story, but also its adherence to the script. While the video consists of found footage, the edit, by Melissa Olson, is weirdly precise and magnetic, sculpting a sensorial piece that is probably best shown in an Imax theater.
This video also seems to be a postscript to Godfrey Reggio's Naqoyqatsi. Reggio leaves that film - about humanity's place inside technology - with the image of a skydiver in visual, unending freefall, whereas in "Cowboy" the same diver returns to Earth to become one with his surroundings. I can't help but think that this video somehow describes what many see as our global, cultural, and individual descent into the warm and frothy waters of technology.
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Bonnie "Prince" Billy "Cursed Sleep"
directed by Andy Bruntel
I have a confession: I am not in the right mood to describe why this video is one of the best of 2006. As I get older I find that if a music video makes me cry - a sharply new phenomenon in my life - then I love it.
As a guy based in Athens, Ohio, a college town housed in one of the poorest rural areas in Appalachian Ohio, a lot of this rings true for me: the kitschy, over-stuffed house, the outdoors, the utter humanity of those of us who still live on the edges of society. Andy Bruntel brings to this landscape of winding dirt roads and rusty trailers a level of mysticism, of mythical allegory - of some ancient Herculean tale since dismissed by psychology, sociology, modern religion, or whatever stopped humans from believing in mythical creatures, if they ever did.
"Cursed Sleep," while still a bit queer in its ad hoc postmodernism, can, when you're in certain moods, joyfully encompass the complexity of modern life in its ancient, rural tale. It's for those moments - exceedingly unobtainable in our modern culture - that make this an entirely brilliant and heartbreaking video.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy "Cursed Sleep"
directed by Andy Bruntel
I have a confession: I am not in the right mood to describe why this video is one of the best of 2006. As I get older I find that if a music video makes me cry - a sharply new phenomenon in my life - then I love it.
As a guy based in Athens, Ohio, a college town housed in one of the poorest rural areas in Appalachian Ohio, a lot of this rings true for me: the kitschy, over-stuffed house, the outdoors, the utter humanity of those of us who still live on the edges of society. Andy Bruntel brings to this landscape of winding dirt roads and rusty trailers a level of mysticism, of mythical allegory - of some ancient Herculean tale since dismissed by psychology, sociology, modern religion, or whatever stopped humans from believing in mythical creatures, if they ever did.
"Cursed Sleep," while still a bit queer in its ad hoc postmodernism, can, when you're in certain moods, joyfully encompass the complexity of modern life in its ancient, rural tale. It's for those moments - exceedingly unobtainable in our modern culture - that make this an entirely brilliant and heartbreaking video.
---------------
Daft Punk "The Prime Time of Your Life"
(NOTE: May not be suitable for young children.)
directed by Tony Gardner
Devastating in both concept and, er, execution, "The Prime Time of Your Life" sees Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo reflecting darkly on their age, while creature effects veteran Tony Gardner takes a turn at directing a girl's depressing, television-fueled loss of innocence. The terror of the video is its revelation that we are often, at first glance, not made for the horrors that are placed before us.
Whomever the girl is, her presence on screen is wonderful and well-performed. The most devastating facet of her character is that she seems as if she wasn't planning on suicide-by-disembodiment until the moment she spots the razorblade. This devastating facet of psychology makes this a video that transcends most other videos made on the subject - the closest being the fun yet oblique take on childhood depression (and even suicide) for "Sometimes" by Les Rhythmes Digitales (dir. Mike Mills).
It is an excellently-shot horror video by Gardner, who also directed Daft Punk's "Technologic" and worked on effects for Michel Jackson's "Thriller," believe it or not.
Daft Punk "The Prime Time of Your Life"
(NOTE: May not be suitable for young children.)
directed by Tony Gardner
Devastating in both concept and, er, execution, "The Prime Time of Your Life" sees Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo reflecting darkly on their age, while creature effects veteran Tony Gardner takes a turn at directing a girl's depressing, television-fueled loss of innocence. The terror of the video is its revelation that we are often, at first glance, not made for the horrors that are placed before us.
Whomever the girl is, her presence on screen is wonderful and well-performed. The most devastating facet of her character is that she seems as if she wasn't planning on suicide-by-disembodiment until the moment she spots the razorblade. This devastating facet of psychology makes this a video that transcends most other videos made on the subject - the closest being the fun yet oblique take on childhood depression (and even suicide) for "Sometimes" by Les Rhythmes Digitales (dir. Mike Mills).
It is an excellently-shot horror video by Gardner, who also directed Daft Punk's "Technologic" and worked on effects for Michel Jackson's "Thriller," believe it or not.
---------------
Deichkind featuring Sarah Walker "Ich Betäube Mich"
directed by Alex & Liane
Sugar is never so sweet as when it's delivered with plenty of brain, and perhaps a little braun too. Like "Heart Made of Sound," "Ich Betäube Mich" is a video that is filled to the brim with ideas that are delivered with a side of epilepsy.
While "Mich" has its hand solidly in the typical informercial video - covered before by Bubba Sparxxx (dir. Marcus Raboy), Kanye West (Little X / West), the Black Eyed Peas (Brian Beletic), and, earlier, the Talking Heads (David Byrne / Melvin Sokolsky) - its actual root is David Lee Roth's "Just a Gigolo (I Ain't Got Nobody)" (Pete Angelus / Roth). The tenor of both videos is an ultra-wacky, postmodernist mélange of pop visuals and references delivered with a cheeky hyperactivity.
What sets Deichkind apart from Roth's early-era, MTV-pwning video are the stakes. Alex & Liane imbue "Mich" with a nearly post-apocalyptical flavor not seen since Andrea Giacobbe left the music video scene. Betäuben, after all, means to anesthetize, and that provides "Ich Betäube Mich" the seedy underbelly on which they jazzercise, touch themselves, and sell their souls.
But that's besides the point nowadays: selling your soul isn't the horror that it once was.
In case you're curious, they filmed this inside the Tropical Islands Resort in Brandenburg, Germany.
Deichkind featuring Sarah Walker "Ich Betäube Mich"
directed by Alex & Liane
Sugar is never so sweet as when it's delivered with plenty of brain, and perhaps a little braun too. Like "Heart Made of Sound," "Ich Betäube Mich" is a video that is filled to the brim with ideas that are delivered with a side of epilepsy.
While "Mich" has its hand solidly in the typical informercial video - covered before by Bubba Sparxxx (dir. Marcus Raboy), Kanye West (Little X / West), the Black Eyed Peas (Brian Beletic), and, earlier, the Talking Heads (David Byrne / Melvin Sokolsky) - its actual root is David Lee Roth's "Just a Gigolo (I Ain't Got Nobody)" (Pete Angelus / Roth). The tenor of both videos is an ultra-wacky, postmodernist mélange of pop visuals and references delivered with a cheeky hyperactivity.
What sets Deichkind apart from Roth's early-era, MTV-pwning video are the stakes. Alex & Liane imbue "Mich" with a nearly post-apocalyptical flavor not seen since Andrea Giacobbe left the music video scene. Betäuben, after all, means to anesthetize, and that provides "Ich Betäube Mich" the seedy underbelly on which they jazzercise, touch themselves, and sell their souls.
But that's besides the point nowadays: selling your soul isn't the horror that it once was.
In case you're curious, they filmed this inside the Tropical Islands Resort in Brandenburg, Germany.
--------------------
The Knife "We Share Our Mother's Health"
directed by Motomichi Nakamura
When looking for music videos that transcend their medium, one must often look to innovators. Flash is a program whose entrée into music video has been surprisingly slow, considering the number of home-made films posted online. Only Joel Trussell's Kid606 video "The Illness" has made any strong impression using the program. While that video's styling was a little rough around the edges, Motomichi Nakamura's "We Share Our Mother's Health" delivers a well-styled and -edited montage of masochistic elements that reflect The Knife's thumping paranoia.
While the video doesn't require any more description, The Knife deserve a mention as one of the year's best music video innovators. They've commissioned two excellent videos, "Silent Shout" and "Like a Pen," and some tour visuals from Andreas Nilsson, as well as two inspiring videos for "Marble House" from Björn Renner and Chris Hopewell.
The Knife "We Share Our Mother's Health"
directed by Motomichi Nakamura
When looking for music videos that transcend their medium, one must often look to innovators. Flash is a program whose entrée into music video has been surprisingly slow, considering the number of home-made films posted online. Only Joel Trussell's Kid606 video "The Illness" has made any strong impression using the program. While that video's styling was a little rough around the edges, Motomichi Nakamura's "We Share Our Mother's Health" delivers a well-styled and -edited montage of masochistic elements that reflect The Knife's thumping paranoia.
While the video doesn't require any more description, The Knife deserve a mention as one of the year's best music video innovators. They've commissioned two excellent videos, "Silent Shout" and "Like a Pen," and some tour visuals from Andreas Nilsson, as well as two inspiring videos for "Marble House" from Björn Renner and Chris Hopewell.
Part Two -->
Published Dec. 14, 2006. Several minor corrections made on Dec. 15, 2006.
This page (C) 2006 Kevin Holy. All rights reserved. Welcome to director-file.com.
Published Dec. 14, 2006. Several minor corrections made on Dec. 15, 2006.
This page (C) 2006 Kevin Holy. All rights reserved. Welcome to director-file.com.