The Work of Director Michel Gondry (2003)

The Work of Director Michel Gondry invites the lucky viewer into a wonderland of childlike imagination.

Before the Versailles-born Gondry turned his creative ingenuity to feature films (beginning with the underrated Human Nature and the 2004 Jim Carrey comedy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), these music videos and assorted "stories and things" formed a legacy of supreme cleverness, suggesting a creative lineage from the pioneering film magic of Georges Melies to the groundbreaking experimental films of Norman McLaren. Gondry (b. 1964) never lost the sense of wonder and inventiveness that children display when their minds are allowed to flourish in a creative environment. No wonder he's best known for his dazzling collaborations with Icelandic pop star Bjork, resulting in music videos that redefined the magical potential of the medium. Each, in its own way, is a masterpiece of the fantastic.

What's also remarkable about Gondry's work is its technical progression, from the homemade crudeness of his earliest videos for the French band Oui Oui, to the technical wizardry of Kylie Minogue's "Come Into My World," in which the Australian pop star is seamlessly multiplied as she strolls around a busy Parisian intersection; like many of Gondry's videos, it's a stunning "how-did-they-do-that?" work of art, reminiscent of Zbigniew Rybcynski's prize-winning 1982 short "Tango." From the hilarious dreamworld of the Foo Fighters' most popular video "Everlong" to the painstaking pixilation of Gondry's videos for the White Stripes (one made entirely of animated Lego blocks), this DVD is packed with Gondry's tireless pursuit of perfection; he'll do whatever's necessary, no matter how simple or complex, to achieve perfect harmony between song, artist, and visual concept. All the while, he's drawing from a seemingly endless well of inspiration and interviews that chronicle the eternal sunshine of a brilliant mind. –Jeff Shannon

Screenshots:


Videos:
Beck - Deadweight.avi
Bjork - Bachelorette.avi
Bjork - Hyperballad.avi
Bjork - Joga.avi
Cibo Matto - Sugar Water.avi
Daft Punk - Around the World.avi
Foo Fighters - Everlong.avi
Kylie Minogue - Come into my World.avi
La Lettre.avi
One Day.avi
The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be.avi
The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar.avi
The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.avi
The White Stripes - Fell in Love with a Girl.avi
The White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button.avi



Password: Anim8