Waking up in HANOI

The pleasure of a languid, early film scene set to diegetic pop music is hard to match, in my book. The Vietnamese film THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN features three such sequences, repeated in the same bedroom at morning to different songs.

In this scene, LOU REED's 1970's single CONEY ISLAND BABY sets the tone for filmmaker TRAN ANH HUNG's carefully orchestrated wake up scene.

NITE JEWEL is not an alien, or maybe

This is one of those lo-fi druggy vids that just stick in my mind. The syrupy groove to NITE JEWEL's dance track ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is irresistible. It's the kind of thing that, at first, you think it's a joke—until you realize that Ms. JEWEL is just from another planet.

The NITE JEWEL record is out now on ITALIANS DO IT BETTER.

Dream with the Coens

The final scene of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN has been a contentious one. Some dismiss it, others feel the weight of the film depends on it. Whatever your take on it, it's worth watching again.

Dreaming is a recurring element of the COEN BROTHERS' films. One scene that's stuck with me is from an early COEN BROS. farce that I first saw as a young man on TV. For some reason, the image of the football player's highly stylized rush to the endzone has stayed with me. Comical as it is, RAISING ARIZONA actually has a lot in common with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. But that might just be a fact COEN BROS. recurring territory.

France, circa 1967

The 2008 film SILENT LIGHT by Mexican filmmaker CARLOS REYGADAS features a unique cameo appearance by French chanteur JACQUES BREL.

In an intially portentious scene, a father finds his children in the back of a Mexican vagrant's van. What could have been a cheaply suspenseful scene, turns into one of odd merrymaking, as the kids are watching a small television broadcasting the above performance from French television, 1967. The sweaty grotesqueries of the performance bring the children—as well as the audience watching the film—a rare form of delight...

The same day I sought out this footage on YouTube, a friend shared this clip with me, of FRANCOISE HARDY, also from 1967. Rare, indeed, and a fitting counterpart.

Spiegel Im Spiegel

Tonight at New York's LE POISSON ROUGE, I will be seeing the WORDLESS MUSIC SERIES, featuring TIM HECKER. Also performing will be the WORDLESS MUSIC ORCHESTRA, who will be playing work by ARVO PÄRT, among others.

The "sarcred minimalism" of ARVO PÄRT's music was a big part of GUS VAN SANT's film GERRY, which used SPIEGEL IM SPIEGEL in the above scene.

Like a moth to a flame

From STAN BRAKHAGE, the seminal avant garde short film MOTHLIGHT. Made in 1963. Uploaded to YouTube in 2007.

The Silence Before Bach

Spanish filmmaker PERE PORTABELLA has been making avant garde features since the '60s. His most recent film, THE SILENCE BEFORE BACH plays this week at the MUSEUM OF MODERN ART in New York.

Like that other experimental filmmaker MATTHEW BARNEY, PORTABELLA does not allow his work to be transferred to video, or distributed domestically. Thankfully a preview has surfaced online, but the run at MoMA is one of the rare chances to catch his highly regarded work.

I'm Too Sad To Tell You

The artist BAS JAN ADER spent the early seventies in L.A. pushing his distinctive and dedicated work of photography, filmmaking, and performance. Although best known for his "FALLING" series of films, in which he is filmed falling from various heights, his 1971 film I'M TOO SAD TO TELL YOU provocatively establishes his brand of physical, emotional, and self-demanding art.

In 1975 he set out on what would be his final art project, called IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, ADER set out in a tiny sailboat into the Atlantic. He was never seen again, and his boat was later found capsized off the coast of Ireland.

A new documentary about his life and work HERE IS ALWAYS SOMEWHERE ELSE is now in release.

Some company on the dancefloor

A little slice of Swedish backwoods dancefloor heaven. THE KNIFE, famously reclusive in performance, cast Sweden's most public transvestite to act as the artist in their clip for PASS THIS ON. The actual band members, a real-life brother and sister duo, can be spotted in the crowd. (The narrow-eyed dancer is THE KNIFE's OLAF). A masterpiece of setting and mood (and dance moves), this video rewards repeat viewings.

The clip for this song turned out so well, in fact, that they recreated it for a "live" television performance. Everybody dance:

Shame is Coming Back to the Redneck People

Poet and band-leader DAVID BERMAN reads a new poem, care of Pitchfork.tv.

All I Need

When I think about my favorite music videos of all time, I think back to filmmaker and artist MIKE MILLS' inspired experiments with the band AIR. The clip for 1998's ALL I NEED reminds of when I actually watched MTV, and the brave, borderline wonky, open-heartedness, along with MILLS' breaking into the audio of the song make it stand out.

And speaking of MTV, they apparently teamed up with RADIOHEAD for their new video for their song, um, ALL I NEED. The result is somewhere between an art video and a public service announcement. Good message:

This American Life vs. Rabio Lab vs. Chris Ware

In this animation for THIS AMERICAN LIFE's TV show, CHRIS WARE illustrates a story told by RADIO LAB's ROBERT KRULWICH and his wife. When the television version of TAL debuted last year, host IRA GLASS claimed he wanted the show to look like nothing else on television.

To this end, I think they've somewhat succeeded, with the often stunning cinematography highlighting the show's unique documentarianism. The first season of the show is on iTunes, with hopefully the second season to follow.

God Only Knows, Claire Denis

CLAIRE DENIS is a master, sensualist filmmaker. Her camera lingers on faces and skin in sometimes grotesque intimacy. This simple scene of a French bartender catching the attention of a passing American sailor from NENETTE ET BONI is a good example of her style.

God only knows what I'd do if VINCENT GALLO looked at me like this.

Here, she gets all telefoto on SONIC YOUTH for her music video of their recent INCINERATE:

Skater boys

For his film PARANOID PARK, GUS VAN SANT handed off Super 8 cameras to kids around Portland to capture the poetic sequences that highlight his film about youth skate culture.

Bonnie and Barney and Bjork

WILL OLDHAM sings the song GRATITUDE as the opening for MATTHEW BARNEY's film DRAWING RESTRAINT 9.

Music by BJORK.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

This video clip, from the sweet-toothed pop band ALPHABEAT, was supposedly the third most watched video on YouTube a couple days ago. Charming, for such scrappy up-and-comers.

It reminds of this video, from GARY JULES' update from DONNIE DARKO, of the '80s classic MAD WORLD:

Silent Light

The newest film from Mexican maverick CARLOS REYGADAS opens in darkness to reveal a not-so-silent sunrise. TIMES critic MANOLHLA DARGIS reads the film's title as "an allusion to love," but I think the message is closer to spirituality and belief, which is not necessarily the same thing.

In this shot, as per usual, REYGADAS rewards our patience with a carefully wrought sense of beauty and significance.

I need another world

ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS' latest single ANOTHER WORLD will be released next week. This is the teaser video, a hazy window into a flowery past.

Saint Bruce

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN is again helping out with the current Democratic candidate's campaign. I saw BRUCE play some live songs in Madison with JOHN KERRY in 2004 at a huge outdoor downtown rally that made the cover of the New York Times. This coming weekend he will be supporting BARACK OBAMA in rallies and benefit concerts in Philadelphia and New York.

Here he is, doing the classic SUICIDE song DREAM BABY DREAM on his 2005 tour.

More bodies break...

The BREAKER video has inspired the most sincere form of flattery.

This first one gets it best, with extra points for the nonsensical outfits.



Emo boys can barely get to the second glass of milk...



These bros went with chocolate...

There will be cake

The Minnesota band LOW has been making stomach churning anthems for years, but their spare and stark video for last year's BREAKER marks the first time the complex intensity of their music has been matched visually. That is to say the surreal, palpable intensity which is conveyed without the obvious signifyers of doom and gloom, darkness, or slow-motion.

It's hard to watch, but this may be one of the strongest pieces of experimental music videos I've seen. LOW play tonight in NEW YORK CITY, and tomorrow in BROOKLYN.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

The previous clip from BÉLA TARR may describe a total eclipse of the sun, but that doesn't begin to describe what might happen if you were an 80's power balladeer in love with a bright-eyed school boy.

A legendary music video that gloriously pulls out all stops... By popular request, here is the great BONNIE TYLER. Enjoy.

Werckmeister Harmonies

Hungarian filmmaker BÉLA TARR works in a timeless tradition unmoved by contemporary trends. This opening scene from WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES captures his style and tone beautifully, notably his use of long takes and the roving camera that completely ignores the standard rules of editting—namely the 180 degree rule. That's right, his camera crosses the line, in fact, it's fair to say that in his films, there is no line.

BÉLA TARR's newest film THE MAN FROM LONDON will be playing all this week at the MUSEUM OF MODERN ART.

MySpace proof

When someone gets popular on MySpace, they run the risk of getting fake profiles made about them. The solution is posting a video of yourself on your profile page reciting your MySpace URL I.D. number, offered as "proof."

Artists BRAD TROEMEL and RANDI HEYLEK cut together a series of videos of MySpace girls authenticating their identities. The resulting montage is like a shopping list of commodified online personas, revealing the twist of a new kind of personal branding.

Baby, don't forget my number.

Journal for People

What makes the difference in video art is often the ability to transcend the medium and the software. Since so much of digital video art is automatic and clichéd, it takes a lot of hard work and talent with software to make work that stands out, especially in the highly aesthetic world of pop.

Tokyo-based electronic composer and video artist TAKAGI MASAKATSU manipulates video footage with painterly digital effects, and in this video for his song GIRLS he utilizes a hand-painted look that is both resolutely human, yet totally dependent on digital processes. A rare feat, and a rich viewing experience.

What do you think Ferris is going to do?

A group calling themselves PROJECT BUELLER is planning on recreating the famous TWIST AND SHOUT parade scene from JOHN HUGHES' classic 80's film FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, during the Sept. 6th DEITCH ART PARADE.

Will it come off? The website posts this rather low-quality (and French-dubbed in the beginning) YouTube clip, calling for viewers to recreate the extras in the Chicago-land scenery. Hopefully you'll be able to distinguish the right outfit for your version of "Evelyn," or at least have time to practice your choreographed stair dance.

Giant white glove

This video is from a 2007 project called White Glove Tracking, in which a collective of online users collaborated to produce a source code tracking MICHAEL JACKSON's white glove from the footage of his legendary BILLIE JEAN performance.

TIM KNAPEN, the artist here, uses the data to greatly expand the white glove, to surreal and comical effect. A new classic.

Your favorite horse

This music video for BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY's remake of his own NO MORE WORKHORSE BLUES was done by HARMONY KORINE in 2004. KORINE is the master of the oddly affecting, whacked out image.

Here, he uses a cast of two shot with bright, sunny video tones, and chops it up using a two-frame stutter effect that is not unlike the 3-D simulacra-style used by video artist KEN JACOBS. The last shot sees a cameo by WILL OLDHAM, the artist himself.

The Perfect Human

This 1967 short film from Danish filmmaker JØRGEN LETH was the subject of LARS VON TRIER's provocation THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS, in which LETH was challenged to remake the film five times, each with new "obstructions" set by VON TRIER.

On its own, the film is certainly a singular production, merging documentary style with Structuralism, cast in a New Wave sense of off-handed poetry. For contemporary film fans who have seen the VON TRIER film, THE PERFECT HUMAN never appears in full in that movie, so it's a real pleasure to watch the original, without the weight of any further challenges.

What happens in Vegas...

One of the most delightful film experiences I had last year was catching the work of OLIVO BARBIERI, both at film festivals and galleries. His photography from the SITE SPECIFIC_NEW YORK 07 series was on view here in NYC, but my first encounter with his unique shooting style was this film, SITE SPECIFIC_LAS VEGAS 05.

The beguiling yet simple technique used by BARBIERI involves a tilt-shift lens, throwing what looks like a narrow depth of focus on far-away scenes of cityscapes. First-time viewers, myself included, have a hard time deciding if the scenes are real, or models. But all of BARBIERI's toylike depictions are shot from a helicopter, using a slightly more advanced tilt-shift technique which he won't fully disclose. The result is a chance see well-known landscapes from an unusual perspective.

Township Funk

This incredible and gloriously timeless-looking clip from South Africa is actually the flagship single from the Kwaito scene's heavyweight DJ MUJAVA. The word on the street is that WARP RECORDS found this clip on YouTube and is now putting TOWNSHIP FUNK out as a single.

I love the energy and the fluid endless melody in this record, and amazingly it mixes quite well with today's NYC electro scene (I heard it in a club just last night).

Last kiss

MARTIN ARNOLD is one of the bigger names is contemporary art cinema. His approach is intensely formalist, in the structuralist tradition. This is a short segment from his 1998 film ALONE. LIFE WASTES ANDY HARDY, which re-edits footage from the ANDY HARDY film series orginally made between 1937 and 1958.

The stutter-jerk technique developed by ARNOLD is a doorway toward exploring classic Hollywood cinema, in order to reveal, in ARNOLD's words, "something behind that which is being represented, which was not represented."

Raise your hands up to the sky

When I think of dancing on film, a longtime favorite music video has been NICK CAVE AND THE BADSEEDS' unholy dance party with FIFTEEN FEET OF PURE WHITE SNOW. The unsettling and darkly comic cinematography is reminiscent of DAVID LYNCH, but the attitude is pure CAVE.

When I saw his punkier outfit GRINDERMAN perform in Chicago last year, the electric antics of NICK CAVE's lanky frame served by the mid- to upbeat music were the highlight of his performance. Here, we are also treated to a cameo appearance from JARVIS COCKER of PULP.

Let it guide our feelings

French post-wave stylist LEOS CARAX likes to use pop music to guide his scenes, often from DAVID BOWIE, and often with his favorite actor DENIS LEVANT jumping around and/or dancing.

This clip, from the 1986 film MAUVAIS SANG (Bad Blood) might just be one of my favorite scenes ever. The spirit of the New Wave and the deep romanticism of CARAX anchor the scene, but LEVANT's exuberant run down the street to MODERN LOVE is what made it famous.

Don't Follow Me

The duo known as GNARLS BARKLEY can be counted on to make creative and singular music videos to match their uncompromising R&B esoterica music. This clip for their great recent single GOING ON was shot in Jamaica, and features its fair share of choreographed dancing, against a classic metaphysical tall tale.

Elephant in the room

The poetry of GUS VAN SANT's steady cam is rarely as affecting to me as in this early scene from ELEPHANT. In one fell sweep, we are introduced to a number of characters and the everyday scenes of a high school, from the football field to the hallways.

But what drives this scene, more than the floating eminance of the camera, is the way the soundtrack weaves in and out of environmental sounds and musical accompaniment, in this case MOONLIGHT SONATA, which is reprised later in the film when it is played on a piano in a character's bedroom.

Punch In

Here we have a fan-made video of the Nintendo classic MIKE TYSON'S PUNCH OUT, showcasing one gamer's run to the finish, only taking one punch. Growing up with two older brothers, I spent a lot of time watching others play video games, basically waiting for my turn. Being the youngest son, my turn didn't always come, but I came to enjoy watching the little movies video games provided without actually playing them.

The game-play of PUNCH OUT, like most early Nintendo, is quite simple, limited to one background, and based on learned movements and patterns. Years later, when I returned to this game, I made the comment that what the game boils down to is simply learning the "dance" of all the characters.

I realize gaming has become more cinematic, but my experience never went much further than Nintendo. I don't expect anyone to make it through the entire video, but know, for me, this is probably the first structuralist film with which I became fascinated.