There are few things that underscore how label
obsessed pop culture has become than the fact that there are DVDs on the market
that consist solely of the work of a particular music video director. And for a
change, that kind of branding is actually a good thing. When Palm Pictures put
out the first three volumes of the Directors Label series in 2003, which
featured the work of Michel Gondry (the White Stripes’ Lego video “Fell in Love
with a Girl”), Chris Cunningham (Madonna’s “Frozen”), and Spike Jonze (Fatboy
Slim’s “Weapon of Choice,” a.k.a. the Christopher Walken Video), they surely
knew that these directors had a following, but they couldn’t possibly have
imagined that these DVDs would fly off the shelves the way they did. The message
was clear: The kids know their vids.
So Palm decided to go one better. They assembled the work of Mark Romanek,
Jonathan Glazer, Anton Corbijn and Stéphane Sednaoui, four staggeringly talented
directors, to serve as the second installment of the series, so to speak. If the
first three sets focused on the here and now, the videos here are a microcosm of
where music video has come from. You can look up exactly when these videos were
made, but they still feel timeless, as if mere mortals had nothing to do with
the making of them. Bullz-Eye sat down, for about 96 hours without blinking, to
deconstruct the film influences, and explore the Gregorian references within –
ah, screw it, we just wanted to check out some killer vids, bro.
 Mark
Romanek
 
To steal Q Magazine’s description of songwriter Neil Finn, Mark Romanek
pisses genius. Assembled in reverse chronological order, the disc starts with
Jay-Z’s phenomenal video for “99 Problems” (a director’s cut, no less), which
literally sent Jay-Z’s rapping career to its grave in a hail of bullets, and
ends with “Constant Craving” (both, coincidentally, shot in black & white), the
video that vaulted kd lang to stardom. In between are a slew of power rotation
videos, from Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” (as well as the arguably superior Gothic
fantasy “Perfect Drug”) to Fiona Apple’s “Criminal,” the most elegant slice of
soft core porn you’re likely to find. You’ll also find the best Madonna video
you never saw (“Bedtime Story”), the worst Michael/Janet video you ever saw
(“Scream”), and one of the most literally explosive videos ever made (Audioslave’s
“Cochise,” which features the band backlit by a barrage of brilliant fireworks).
But most importantly, you’ll find the video for Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” the most
moving, most powerful piece of film you’re likely to ever see in your entire
life. The secret weapon to his videos are the candid shots, the moments where he
captures the artist with their guard down, and his editors always find the perfect
place to insert that moment of humanity. As cliché as it sounds, Romanek is truly in a class all his own, and this
compilation proves it.
 Jonathan
Glazer
This is definitely one of the more interesting collections in the Director’s
Label series if only because it offers an assortment of other mediums aside from
the typical music video. The disc contains, of course, all of Glazer’s videos
(save for one by Jamiroquai), but also features his television commercial work,
as well as two excerpts from feature films. “Sexy Beast” is easily one of the
most underrated films of the past decade, and Glazer’s fantastical vision shines
through in his directorial debut. Unfortunately, the excerpt provided doesn’t
highlight any of this, but instead features Ben Kingsley’s brilliant onscreen
performance. Still, interviews with Kingsley and co-star Ray Winstone help to
enlighten the viewer as to what it was like working with the young director, but
another example of Glazer’s influence would have worked much better. Why they
didn’t include an excerpt with the bizarre Rabbit alter ego is beyond me, but
those dream sequences represented the most important visual elements within the
project. Other standout pieces on the disc include the infamous “Virtual
Insanity” video (along with commentary by Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay on how it
was shot), the controversial video for UNKLE’s “Rabbit in Your Headlights,” as
well as commercials focused on the idea of invincibility (Guinness’ “Swim Black”
and Levis’ “Odyssey”) and fantasy (Guinness’ “Dreamer” and “Surfer”).
 Anton
Corbijn
Anton Corbijn likes sand. He also likes shooting in black & white. Oh, and
title cards, too. Most importantly, he likes Depeche Mode, a lot. Five of the
videos here are from Depeche, along with two each from Metallica, U2, Echo & the
Bunnymen and Mercury Rev, many of which were shot in the desert or on the beach.
Fortunately, these videos happen to be quite good, and a couple, like “Enjoy the
Silence” and “One,” are classics. The beauty of this set is in the lesser known
videos, like Henry Rollins’ magnificent “Liar,” Travis’ “Re-Offender,” where the
band fights between every gig and has the bruises to prove it, and most
importantly his first video ever, Propaganda’s “Dr. Mabuse,” which is of its
time yet absolutely nothing like it. On a sadder note, the compilation also
includes Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box,” which might be the last time Kurt Cobain
was caught smiling on film.
 Stephane
Sednaoui
Perhaps the most unpredictable director of the bunch, Stephane Sednaoui is
also the youngest, and yet his unique style has been praised by many as being
ahead of the curve. Except by me, of course. About half of the videos on this
disc will look strikingly familiar, like Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic,” Red Hot
Chili Peppers “Give it Away” and “Scar Tissue,” and U2’s “Mysterious Ways” and
“Discotheque,” but none of them feel as culturally significant as the
collections from the other three directors. Sednaoui likes to work in very
distinct opposites. Everything is either a very dull black and white (Garbage’s
“Queer” and Bjork’s “Big Time Sensuality”), or exhibits an extreme use of bright
colors (Mirwais’ “Disco Science” and Bjork’s “Possibly Maybe”). The more
aggressive videos (including “Give it Away” and “Queer”) are a pain to watch,
but Sednaoui’s more fantastical, neon-hued videos are at least visually
appealing. Oh, and there’s also a video for French rappers NTM as well. What a
drag.
Final Thoughts
At the risk of sounding presumptuous, we have a couple suggestions for the next
series of Directors Label collections: compilations from David Fincher
(Madonna’s “Express Yourself,” Billy Idol’s “Cradle of Love”), Steve Barron (A-ha’s
“Take On Me,” Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”), Russell Mulcahy (all of the
Duran Duran Sri Lanka videos, “Video Killed the Radio Star”) and Zbigniew
Rybczynski (Art of Noise’s “Close (To the Edit”), Pet Shop Boys’
“Opportunities”) would look great on our shelves. Just a thought.
~David Medsker & Jason Zingale
dmedsker@bullz-eye.com /
jzingale@bullz-eye.com
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