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The Work of Director Michel Gondry review
:. Director: Michel Gondry
:. Genre: Documentary
:. Running Time: 1:50
:. Year: 2003
:. Country: USA
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Michel Gondry is certainly one of the most talented
music video directors in the industry today. Before
venturing on the big screen, as Charlie Kaufman's
other alter ego, on ambitious and weird pictures such
as Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he directed videos for some of the most
respected artists in the business, from the White
Stripes to the Chemical Brothers, Björk, Daft Punk, The Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters.
What makes the Gallic director different from his
counterparts is his ability as a multidisciplinary
artist who can play as much on psychedelic editing
effects as set his camera on the street or direct
stop-motion animation. Rather than imposing his visual
signature on the artists, he always adapts his video
to them in order to capture the essence of their
songs.
For the slightly absurd French band Oui Oui—that I
personally find a bore—he created clay figures of the
group, while for electronic acts such as the Chemical
Brothers and Daft Punk he offers an edgy mix of images
and music. His approach of the White Stripes is rather
brutish, just like the band, while he can also adapt,
with grandiloquence, to more colorful personalities
such as Bjork and Kylie Minogue. For the Rolling
Stones, he crafted a beautiful visual style but my
personal fave remains the hilarious "Je danse le Mia".
For this hit video of IAM, France's premier rap band,
he recreated the colorful—and often
ridiculous—Mediterranean sub-culture of their
hometown Marseilles—which also happens to be mine!
The DVD also includes plenty of extras, shorts and
commercials, which all reflect a facet of Michel
Gondry's talent.
Fred Thom
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