The Directors Series: Volume 2

I was debating whether or not to review this new set from Palm Pictures, a retrospective of videos, commercials, short films and documentaries by leading music video directors. It's hard to review a collection of music videos, first of all, mainly because they're hugely dependent on what sort of music you like.

For example, I can recognize that Chris Cunningham is an innovative and stylish director, but I didn't enjoy his DVD from Volume 1 of this series very much because I don't like most of the musicians whom he features. At least, I don't like them as much as the videos on the Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry discs that came in that first box.

The new box features 4 directors instead of three. They are Jonathan Glazer (who also directed the feature films Sexy Beast and Birth), Mark Romanek (who did the feature One Hour Photo), Anton Corbijn (a Dutch photographer best known for his photo of U2 that provided the cover for the "Joshua Tree" album) and Stéphane Sednaoui (a French clothing designer whose DVD I actually haven't gotten to yet).

JONATHAN GLAZER

Glazer's disc has the least amount of music videos, but they are all pretty phenomenal. He works with a ton of great Brit-rock artists, like Radiohead, Richard Ashcroft and Blur.



That's the Radiohead "Street Spirit" video, which is full of really nifty camera tricks where part of the frame is in super-slo-mo while the rest of the screen moves at normal speed.

The best video on the disc, and really, one of the most memorable music videos ever made, is for UNKLE's "Rabbit In Your Headlights," a trippy, hypnotic bit of electronica featuring willowy vocals from Thom Yorke. In the video, French actor Denis Levant walks down the middle of a busy road in a tunnel, mumbling to himself. He is continually hit by passing cars and sent flying several feet in the air, but he's always okay.

Tremendous special effects, really slick cinematography, a cool song, a genuinely weird concept...it's an incredibly music video; more a short film, really...

He also did that VMA-winning "Virtual Insanity" video for Jamiroquai (the one where the floor and furniture keeps moving around) and that awesome Nick Cave song "Into My Arms," which I first heard on the fantastic Zero Effect soundtrack.

Here's the complete rundown of Glazer's set:

Music Videos

Radiohead - Street Spirit
Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity
Richard Ashcroft - A Song for the Lovers
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
UNKLE - Rabbit in Your Headlights
Blur - The Universal
Radiohead - Karma Police
Massive Attack - Karmacoma

Commercials

Wrangler - Ride
Guinness - Surfer (extended)
Guinness - Swim Black
Guinness - Dreamer
Volkswagen - Protection
Stella Artois - Last Orders
Stella Artois - Whip Round
Levis - Kung Fu
Levis - Odyssey
Barclays - Bull (with Samuel L. Jackson)
Barclays - Chicken (with Samuel L. Jackson)

Interviews and Commentaries

Nick Cave, Richard Ashcroft, Jamiroquai, Denis Lavant, 3D, Blur and James Lavelle.

Films

Sexy Beast (excerpt) - You're the Problem
Interviews with Ray Winstone and Sir Ben Kingsley

Birth (excerpt) - Central Park
Interviews with Nicole Kidman, Danny Huston, Harris Savides, Milo Addica and Jean Claude Carriere.

ANTON CORBIJN

This guy directed a lot of videos. A whole lot. Way more than anyone else on any of these discs. Many of them are forgettable, which is a bit change from a guy like Grazer, who manages to come up with some slick imagery and a solid concept every time out of the gate.

But there's no doubt Corbijn put out some classic videos, some of which are far more memorable and iconic than anything on the Grazer set. For example, there aren't many people around my age who can't identify this video just from the following image:



HEY! WAIT! I GOT A NEW COMPLAINT!

Yes, of course, it's Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box," one of the most surreal, grotesque music videos ever to play in constant rotation on MTV. Fat women with their insides hanging out, young girls dressed like Klansmen, fetuses (fetii?) hanging from trees...Corbijn really went for broke on this one. It's one of the most visionary, creepiest and best videos on any of these box sets.

Also, this disc has the Rollins Band "Liar" video, in which Henry calmly promises sincerity before leaping around, painted entirely red, and assuring us that is, in fact, a liar. "Liar" is barely even a song, but as a bizarre nostalgia/humor piece, it's fairly brilliant.

A lot of Corbijn's videos are for seminal 80's bands, like Depeche Mode and Echo and the Bunnymen. These are some great songs, but the videos are unfortunately quite similar, featuring grainy black-and-white cinematography and riffs on familiar silent films. My friend Stefan and I counted at least 4 videos featuring couples walking slowly on a beach (including one where the couple is Joni Mitchell and Peter Gabriel...weird...)

Here's Corbijn's complete rundown...

Music Videos

Propaganda - Dr. Mabuse
David Sylvian - Red Guitar
Echo and The Bunnymen - Seven Seas (this song rocks!)
Golden Earring - Quiet Eyes
Echo and The Bunnymen - The Game
Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel
Joy Division - Atmosphere
Joni Mitchell with Peter Gabriel - My Secret Place
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
U2 - One (director's cut)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Straight to You
Depeche Mode - Walking in My Shoes
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
Henry Rollins - Liar
Metallica - Hero of the Day
Metallica - Mama Said
Depeche Mode - Barrel of a Gun
Depeche Mode - It's No Good
Herberg Grönemeyer - Bleibt Alles Anders
Mercury Rev - Opus 40
Mercury Rev - Goddess on a Hiway
Joseph Arthur - In the Sun
Herberg Grönemeyer - Mensch
U2 - Electrical Storm
Travis - Re-Offender
The Killers - All the Things That I've Done

Stuff

Beck and Dave Grohl - MTV Promos
U2 - The making of 'Electrical Storm'
Some YoYo Stuff - Excerpt from a film about Don van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart
Travis - Love Will Come Through (A home made video with Fran Healy)
Depeche Mode - 'It's No Good' tour projections
Palais Schaumberg - Hockey (Anton's first music video)
Front 242 - Front by Front
NotNa - A documentary about Anton

Interviews and Commentaries

U2, Depeche Mode, Travis, Samantha Morton, Metallica, Nick Cave, Echo and The Bunnymen, Mercury Rev, New Order, Joseph Arthur, Kurt Cobain, Herbert Grönemeyer

STÉPHANE SEDNAOUI

This guy's most famous for the "Give It Away" video from the Red Hot Chili Peppers gargantuan hit album "Blood Sugar Sex Magic."



As I said, I didn't watch this disc, so I'll just give you the rundown:

Music Videos

Mirwais - I Can't Wait
Tricky - For Real
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue
Mirwais - Disco Science
R.E.M. - Lotus
Björk - Possibly Maybe
Alanis Morissette - Ironic (don't you think?)
Tricky - Pumpkin
Garbage - Queer
Tricky - Hell is Around the Corner
Massive Attack - Sly
Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds
Björk - Big Time Sensuality
Björk - Big Time Sensuality (new night version)
Black Crowes - Sometimes Salvation (an odd video I've seen before which features Sofia Coppola)
U2 - Mysterious Ways (this is the one, I think, where Bono is singing the song while spinning down the side of a building...)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
NTM - Le Monde De Demain
U2 - Discotheque (new director's cut)

Extras

Walk On The Wild Side - Short film inspired by Lou Reed's song
Army of Me - Animation inspired by Björk's song
Acqua Natasa - Short film featuring Natasa Vojnovic
Reve Reche - Stéphane's first short film attempt

Interviews and Commentaries

Björk, Bono, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Michael Stipe, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shirley Manson, Tricky

Stéphane's presentation at New York University Film School

MARK ROMANEK

Of the three discs I watched, I liked the videos on this one the best (largely because it has a lot of singers and bands I like). I have to say, some of the extras kind of suck, though. Like this one, Romanekian, where Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Robin Williams watch the videos and comment on them. It's kind of funny sporadically, but way too long, and everything out of Robin Williams mouth is painfully unfunny.

I don't want to hate on the guy, who is apparently a comedy legend, but I just don't think he's very funny. It's always the same schtick - he does a goofy voice, he makes a silly face, he goes off on a weird spazzy tangent involving a goofy voice and a silly face...Enough already...



That's Fiona Apple's "Criminal" video, somewhat controversial in its time because of its obvious visual similarities to homemade pornography. It's just one of the suggestive, envelope-pushing clips on this disc, which also includes Jay Z's awesome banned-from-TRL "99 Problems" in an uncensored version (featuring male full frontal nudity! and senseless violence!), Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" video (the very strange, sexual, bondage-obsessed one), and Linkin Park's "Faint." Okay, that last one is just controversial with me because Linkin Park sucks so badly.

The 'Park and a few other exceptions aside, there's a bunch of great music on this disc. Beck, Weezer, Johnny Cash, The Eels, Sonic Youth...the list goes on and on.

Here's the full rundown on Romanek's collection:

Music Videos

Jay Z - 99 Problems (director's cut)
Linkin Park - Faint
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Audioslave - Cochise (director's cut)
No Doubt - Hella Good (director's cut)
Mick Jagger - God Gave Me Everything
Janet Jackson featuring Joni Mitchell and Q-Tip - Got Til It's Gone
Fiona Apple - Criminal
Nine Inch Nails - Perfect Drug
Beck - Devil's Haircut
Weezer - El Scorcho (director's cut)
Eels - Novocaine for the Soul
Sonic Youth - Little Trouble Girl
Michael & Janet Jackson - Scream (director's cut)
Madonna - Bedtime Story
R.E.M. - Strange Currencies
G. Love & Special Sauce - Cold Beverage
Nine Inch Nails - Closer (director's cut)
David Bowie - Jump, They Say
Madonna - Rain
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Keith Richards - Wicked as it Seems (director's cut)
En Vogue - Free Your Mind
kd lang - Constant Craving

Special Features

A brand new documentary featuring Beck, Jay-Z, Rick Rubin, Michael Stipe, Janet Jackson, Trent Reznor, Anthony Keidis, Gwen Stefani, Keith Richards and others.

Romanekian: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Robin Williams discuss Mark's work.

Making of "99 Problems"

Interviews and Commentaries

Individual artist and director commentaries for all the music videos