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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Directors Series DVD's

  
 
haus of fraser
08:22 / 01.12.04
about 18 months ago 3 dvd's were released featuring a collection of work by directors Michel Gondry, Spike Jonez and Chris Cunningham. I believe they have been fairly successful- what are peoples thoughts on these?

I know that there are more currently being made- the directors I know that will definitely show will include Jonathan Glazer (Birth, Sexy Beast, Radiohead vids, UNKLE, Guinness ads etc) and Anton Corben (U2, Depeche Mode, New Order etc).

which other directors would you like to feature in this series?

who do you think is going to be the next Michel Gondry or Spike Jonez? Who is the new hot kids on the block- or who has been forgotten with a decent collection of shorts and weirdness to make it interesting?

My possible suggestions would include: Mark Romenak (one hour photo, Michael Jackson 'scream', Johnny Cash 'Hurt')
Johan Renck (currently preping his first feature- Downloading Nancy- vids for The streets, Beyonce, Kylie, the libertines etc.).
Floria sigismondi (sigor Ross, Interpol, Bowie, The Cure, Marilyn Manson, Christina Aguilera)
Hype williams (Wu Tang, Missy Elliott, Dr Dre, TLC, Notorious BIG and millions more) i believe already released his own collection on DVD though not as part of the same series and not in the UK (arse!) anybody seen it? does it have the great extras that the others do?
What about something on Jim Jarmusch- now that coffee and cigerettes is finally released are there enough shorts and weirdness to make a collection of his work?
 
 
CameronStewart
17:09 / 01.12.04
I bought the original three dvds in a mad rush upon first release. Now I see they've just been re-issued in a box set with a FOURTH bonus disc of new work by all three directors. Pah!

I would like to take partial credit for Floria Sigismondi's success. Around 5-6 years ago, before pro comics, I was working as a clerk in a hip, "alternative" video store and Sigismondi would come in all the time and pump us for information and recommendations on all the cool, weird underground shit we had. Sure enough, her work started to be heavily influenced by the stuff we'd give her...
 
 
Brigade du jour
18:55 / 01.12.04
Saw the Gondry one, wasn't sure it was going to work but really enjoyed the idiosyncracies of it.

As a drummer I particularly enjoyed the Interactive Menus where he sat playing his drums. The documentary 'I've Been Twelve Forever' captured this really lovely netherworld between the inherent egotism of making a documentary about yourself and taking the piss out of doing so. I just loved the childlike quality he emitted throughout his work, albeit full of cinematic tricks and quirks that actually seemed to have a point rather than being used for their own sake. I still don't know what the point was, mind ...

Oh, and the Cibo Matto video made me smile a lot.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
22:08 / 01.12.04
I've been meaning to buy the Chris Cunningham one the past few days, as I'm really big on his frightening & otherworldly aesthetics but may have to wait now now that I know there is a special edition of the three. I'm no fan of the other two, but anything additional by CC would certainly make my next years.
 
 
CameronStewart
00:12 / 02.12.04
How can you NOT be a fan of Jonez or Gondry?? That just boggles the mind.

The CC disc is the weakest of the lot, because there's only a paltry 8 videos and only brief clips of his other work. Given the Gondry and Jonez dvds cram both sides of the disc full of stuff, the equally-priced Cunningham one is a bit of a swizz.
 
 
Scrambled Password Bogus Email
09:32 / 02.12.04
Sorry to be a stickler for detail but isn't it 'Jonze' not 'Jonez'?

:-)
 
 
haus of fraser
10:20 / 02.12.04
oh well we know who we're talking about but yup jonze it is?

:0)

Anybody got any other suggestions on directors they'd like to see?

I'm with Cameron on the Chris Cunningham thing- I think he was a great director but he's become far far to insular and not nearly as progressive as Gondry or Jonze.
The last thing of his i remember seeing was the orange ads (with a cat mid flight in a weird bullet time thang) about 2 years ago- i think almost everything on the DVD is over 4 years old- most even older and its the only one I haven't bought.

I did hear of him working on a new aphex twin vid about 18 months ago which starred Lindsey Dawn McCenzey (sp?!) in a wheelchair- but nothing has come to light as far as i'm aware although I know people that worked on the shoot so something did happen. To look at other stuff that he's been up to then go to this link for RSA the production company he works through, it has much of the DVD stuff and a couple of his commercials.

I did hear about CC directing the necromancer movie which as far as I know is either in development hell- or its not happening?

Damn i hate reissues with extra bits-couldn't they just hold out a year or so and get a second DVD out?
 
 
TeN
19:29 / 02.12.04
they released all three as a box set?!
when?!

*TeN adds to christmas list*
 
 
Scrambled Password Bogus Email
09:00 / 03.12.04
Hey Copey, since I seem to be appointed stickler for detail in this thread, it' was 'Neuromancer' not 'necromancer'...mmmkay?

;-P
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
13:58 / 03.12.04
How can you NOT be a fan of Jonez or Gondry??

Boggle away - the only clips that I can recall by Jonze are BB's Sabotage, Bjork's musical vid (It's oh so quiet?) and, uh, that's it. And I'm underwhelmed by those two. Gondry ... I really liked his latest movie but as a music video director he's, as far as I can recall, totally unexplored to me, and Eternal Sunshine seemed to not be visually interesting enough to persuade me to buy it.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
14:00 / 03.12.04
...& I remember CC stating something to the effect of that the Matrix killed Neuromancer.
 
 
haus of fraser
14:59 / 03.12.04
Bumble I would try and borrow them off a friend and watch them- cos if you have any interest in film making they are inspired.

All three of Gondrys White stripes videos are fucking great - the techniques that he uses are stunning- and largely explained in a documentary and accompanying booklet (along with treatments etc) his Lucas with the Lid off, Cibo Matto sugar water, Foo Fighters Everlong- all fucking great-Even if you don't like the bands check out his work you may be suprised and maybe even stunned. (his walkie talkie man clip which isn't on the DVD is in my mind the best video of the year- go look for it on quicktime- animated knitting?!?! yes its fucked up but very funny.)

Also spike Jonzes weezer Buddy holly video is a classic- as are Daft Punk etc. The accompanying docos are also pretty interesting and give you an idea where he's coming from.

If its not your thing my original question was who would you like to see a like this dvd for?

moneyshot is this you?
 
 
Haus of Mystery
15:10 / 03.12.04
Great Gondry vidz IMHO:

Bjork - Army of Me (fantastic urban/dystopian adventure with Bjork in Black ninja pyjamas & yellow trainers wrestling Ape dentist)
- Batchelorette (my favourite moozic vid ever)
Kylie - Come into my Arms (So simple, yet brainboggling in execution. Made me like the song & fancy Minogew a bit)
Cibo Matto - Amazing dual storylines which go back and forth in time and reflect each other. Beautiful)

Just a few there, but enough to make him well worth a squiz Bumble. Pisses on Cunningham quite frankly, much as I love him.
 
 
PatrickMM
15:31 / 03.12.04
Based on this review, it sounds like it's not worth picking up the box set if you've already got the three individual DVDs. The fourth disc only has twenty minutes of stuff.

As for the best Gondry in addition to the ones mentioned before,
Daft Punk - Around the World is astonishing in its simplicity, but just works so well for the song, and is very cool looking.
Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be is another phenomenal visual feast, and does something similar to the Everlong video even better, IMO.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
15:45 / 03.12.04
Much as I don't own a tv set, I think I can be forgiven for not knowing too much about Gondry - however, I have caught a few of his during visits to friends. The White Stripes, does one of them feature the Lego? Brilliant. Around the World. Brilliant. Cibo Matto? If it's the same one that I have seen with the split screen, where the other side is in reverse until both sides collide midway through and then... They reverse... If it really is the one, I am sold on Gondry.

I liked those, yeah. But what I failed to include in my CC adoration is that he, in the clips he has made, extrapolates and builds upon the song with the images and the editing. Jonze, and to a lesser extent, perhaps Gondry, doesn't really do that. Their videos are more concept-driven than breathtaking in their tonality.
 
 
PatrickMM
16:53 / 03.12.04
Jonze is definitely concept driven, and I think his videos are the ones that hold up least on multiple viewings. All his videos can be summed up in one sentence, and usually are completely reliant on a pop culture reference. That's not to say that his videos aren't great, it's just that he's the weakest of the three directors here.

I can definitely see your point about CC. His videos do an incredible job of interpreting the music. The Portishead video is not only a very cool visual, it also perfectly fits th music. His editing is much more driven by the flows of the music than by a desire to do something of his own. However, I think this can lead to some of his videos running a bit too long, there's just one thing that happens and it lasts for the length of the video, with not as much variation as Gondry.
 
 
TeN
18:02 / 03.12.04
"Eternal Sunshine seemed to not be visually interesting enough to persuade me to buy it"

!!!
seriously?!
Eternal Sunshine was the most visual stunning film I've seen in a very long time.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
18:58 / 03.12.04
A very, very long time? Makes one wonder which movies you attend, or buy, or see.

(This discussion could go multiple ways, but to narrow down what I meant, I'll say that I can prefer - can - stunningly realized movies which can be vapid to some or inferior to the earlier movies by the same director; I mean, I enjoyed the heck outta the beautifully staged Panic Room even though it wasn't the wholesome package in the way that Fight Club and Se7en were; I prefer the fourth Alien movie - and here I can't get virtually anyone to agree with me - because it is visually stunning, with all the characteristic Jeunet cinematic touches and besides, trust me on this, there's not a whole lot of difference between Amelie and Alien (and A Very Long Engagement, based on the trailer) cinematically, if not for the content; The Machinist, which I just saw today, is a marriage of form and content - to deconstruct this one more, a thread devoted to it and some tremendous spoilers would be needed), Finding Nemo/Incredibles are, as I have previously stated, exquisite (and yeah, Cameron, fuck Shrek); the beyootifully fun, funky and fantastic Charlies Angels: Full Throttle; Spun, and perhaps not for the visuals but more for the untraditional methods Åkerlund goes about editing the story (and I shall proclaim that he should receive his own Directors Series entry! Smack my Bitch Up, My Favourite Game, Ray of Light are qualifiers); the underrated noir fest, the Salton Sea; and I could go on if you ask me to, TeN)

Compared to these, Eternal Sunshine is very pared down, visually. Interesting narrative structure, certainly, but nothing fancy.
 
 
haus of fraser
11:29 / 06.12.04
Makes one wonder which movies you attend, or buy, or see.

Bumble c'mon dude- Spun, charlies angels and fuckin' alien 4????? We're each entitled to our own taste but in my mind these are all pretty average middle of the road movies.
Better than Eternal sunshine visually only in the sense that maybe you maybe prefer something more mainstream and slick? Its fair enough- but not to my taste.

You may be on your own in thinking that Gondry ain't all that- although Human Nature (Gondrys first movie) is fucking awful, by and large I think he's one of the most exciting directors around today.

This is a link for the stereogram walkie talkie man video- fuckin genius!

Yes Jonas Åkerlund like Chris Cunningham was a good director- spun is a remarkably average movie that does something that we'd all seen before- and yes it has fast edits- the record number of cuts for a movie, which although interesting to a point does not make great storytelling. Maybe your right a directors series DVD could be interesting he was certainly the man of the moment about 2- 3 years ago- however as the only things he's done this year consist of a shitty blink 182 video and spending the rest of the year following Madonna on her world tour for an "in bed with Madonna & Guy" makes me wonder whether he's lost it a bit?

It could be good- but the fact that everyone on the tour had to attend Kabullah meets and read some book endorsed by her and Guy before anything could be shot, Makes me wonder how anything creative could come from something so contrived. Lets wait and see.

The recommendation that I gave for Johan Renck above is actually Jonas Akerlund’s Business partner in Sweden (Renck Akerlund Films or RAF) and a much more interesting director in my mind- look him up you may find something more interesting going on there... he's about to do a movie entitled downloading Nancy with Holly Hunter & William Hurt shooting nowish?

heres a link to some of Renck's work- although not as tricksy as Gondry I think theres something pretty cool going on...
 
 
haus of fraser
11:36 / 06.12.04
ooh nearly forgot - a Shynola DVD might be very nice. The animators behind Radiohead 'pyramid song', Junior Senior 'Move your feet' and currently working on the new hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy movie...
 
 
haus of fraser
14:31 / 02.09.05
As rumoured four new directors series DVD's are out next week- Anton Corbijn, Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer & Stephane Sednaoui.

a link is Here.

Any thoughts- i definitely will be buying the Anton Corbijn one and would certainly like to see the others. Anyone interested/ disappointed? I've seen a short preview DVD of each of them that i was given through work, and just like the last set they look very well put together.

On the preview it had the New Order guys giving a very dry and funny audio commentary to the Joy Division 'atmosphere' video which is utterly at odds with the song/ video but all the same unmissable.

hooky 'we went to his show in manchester. (pause) Very expensive.'

Genius!

Who do we want to see next?
 
 
haus of fraser
09:08 / 03.10.05
Just to go on about it even more (it only seems to be me posting in this thread!) There's a screening tonight at The Curzon and its free!


The screening will show the best of the Jonathan Glazer, Anton Corbijn, Stephane Sedanoui and Mark Romanak DVD's that have just been released.... ! It could be shit cos it says its a 'bar screening' whatever that means- or it could be great ... any takers?
 
 
PatrickMM
04:08 / 04.11.05
I've picked up the box set of the four new ones. None of them approach Gondry, but Romanek's got a lot of great videos, notably Fiona Apple's Criminal and Jay-Z's 99 Problems, which has some of the best cutting to music I've seen in a video in its final moments. The best moment in his collection is definitely in Audioslave's 'Cochise,' with what seems like an eternity of buildup, during which the band travels up a construction tower, and then the song kicks in full as fireworks go off in the background. The rest of the video coasts on how amazing this one moment is.

Sednaoui also has some great stuff. The two videos for Mirwais are amazing, particularly 'Disco Science.' And his video for U2's 'Discotheque' is another highlight. He seems to be a huge fan of geishas, as they seem to turn up in some form or another in the majority of his videos.

I'd already seen most of Glazer's stuff, and it goes without saying that 'Street Spirit,' 'Karma Police,' and 'Rabbit in Your Headlights' are classics. The Massive Attack video he did was a nice new one. Though, I'm annoyed that he's got only eight videos on there.

Corbjin's work seems a bit repetitive when viewed back to back, though I really like the video for The Killers' 'All the Things that I Have Done,' in which all the women seem to come from a 1960s Italian film. Great stuff.

On the whole, I'd say it's definitely worth the pickup, but if you've got limited funds, just get Romanek and Sednaoui.
 
 
CameronStewart
12:32 / 10.11.05
>>>Corbjin's work seems a bit repetitive when viewed back to back, though I really like the video for The Killers' 'All the Things that I Have Done,' in which all the women seem to come from a 1960s Italian film. Great stuff.<<<

The inspiration is Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"

  
 
haus of fraser
15:53 / 03.04.06
I finally got around to getting these- there's some great stuff on there- as Patrick said nothing that seems to touch on Michel Gondry's stuff but cool stuff none the less.

I was very slightly disappointed with the Mark Romanek one- more for the lack of attention to detail in the extras- a documentary and a 2nd 'Joke' documentary consisting of 'out-takes' with Ben Stiller & Chris Rock- not enough to stand up on its own and not different enough to be its own program. Still a few great videos- I wonder how much time and involvement Romanek actually gave to this- both Spike Jonze and Michel Gondrys DVD's IMHO are made invaluable with the extras and documentarys- see 'Amarillo by Morning' or 'i've been 12 forever'- both really amazing personal films. I wonder whether Romanek's reputation as a bit of an arse saw him shooting himself in his own foot as his DVD seems a bit empty.

I was surprised at how much i liked stefan sedanoui's work- the only one of these directors i didn't really know- again i liked that he put a couple of films that had never been released before- its the extra bits that make these DVD's.

Jonathan Glazer has the most fun menu of any of these DVD's - maybe... we see snippets of Paul Kaye (playing a tramp) giving Glazer ideas for all his work in exchange for fags, trainers etc.


something like...
an old geezer on a beech talking bollocks, goes surfing, then there are horses, stick on some banging music, Leftfield will do

But how do i do it

don't worry about that- that's special effects problem

very funny. Unfortunately this one is also a bit thin on the ground- its nice to see a mixture of commercials, Ads and movie stuff- but it would have been great if some extra short films or unseen stuff was on here.

My favourite so far has been Anton Corbijns- probably because i like his work more- and this feels like a more personal well thought out DVD- I love that Nick Cave while giving commentary on the included video tells us he hates the video but loves Anton anyway. There's doco's, weird stuff, Unreleased stuff and really great commentarys- you get the feeling the people talking about him really really like him (as opposed to the Romanek one where it seems like they're doing it to be polite). I also enjoyed his killers video, having been totally unimpressed with the band in the past it made me see them in a totally new light.

I know Hammer and Tongs the guys behind Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Blurs Coffe and TV are in the running for one of the next lot- Is there anyone missing from the mix? David Lachappelle ? Traktor? Hype Williams? Paul Hunter? Joseph Kahn? Nick Gorden? Francis Lawrence?

Any ideas?
 
 
PatrickMM
20:02 / 03.04.06
Romanek did do commentary on all the videos, so there was a lot of content right there. Though, with a few exceptions, most of the artists didn't seem too keen on him.

I read that in addition to Hammer and Tongs, Mike Mills would be in the next set. I'd also like to see Floria Sigismondi and Roman Coppola.
 
 
haus of fraser
16:39 / 04.04.06
Linkage!!111!!!1

Some of the directors work mentioned above can be seen here

Floria Sigismondi

Traktor

Paul Hunter

Hammer & Tongs

Joseph Kahn

David Lachapelle

Nick Gorden & Francis Lawrence are both on Academy Films website (along with Jonathan Glazer)

It'd be good to gauge some thoughts from other people once you've had a look? There is muchos good videos on all these links if your broadband can take it!
 
 
Eskay Uno
20:47 / 04.04.06
Wow, great stuff SMR! Thanks!
 
  
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