The Spirit Was Gone

In this videoclip for ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, the famed Japanese Butoh dancer KAZUO OHNO is resurrected via archival footage. Mr. OHNO, who appeared on the cover of ANTONY's 2009 album THE CRYING LIGHT, is given a fitting memorial here.

VCR by The xx

How rare is it that a new music video is actually worth watching?

One of my favorite new bands THE XX has released a stirring video to accompany one of their best songs, VCR. The clip was directed by MARCUS SÖDERLUND, and uses surprisingly sumptuous (mostly) black and white photography, and captures the spirit of the song and the young band better than anything I've seen from them yet.

Deep down, people want to do the right thing

Before HARMONY KORINE went back to challenging film audiences with his latest provocation TRASH HUMPERS, he quietly directed some television commercials for Liberty Mutual.

It's true! Here, Mr. KORINE proves that his strange beauty is possible in many forms of media, and his wide-eyed sense of everyday weirdness is not diluted, even in advertising.

Counter

The compilation of patterns or recurring tropes in video art has become something of a benchmark, not to say a cliche, and comes from the accessibility and mashability of past film and television clips. The current tendency of this type of work is usually pleasurable in two ways: the style and execution of a distinct concept, and then also in recognition by the viewer of the original sources. I would say, while the first is important, it is the second tendency which usually makes or breaks the effectiveness of the work.

This 2004 video, COUNTER by German artist VOLKER SCHREINER, is a good example of both tendencies.

My Son, My Son...

The new film by WERNER HERZOG (currently playing at NYC's IFC Center) is called MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE? and is produced by DAVID LYNCH. It is a pleasure to see HERZOG's classic desperate man blues mixed with a dash of LYNCHian absurd poetry.

This, one of my favorite scenes, is a good example of the film's off-handed style, and leads toward one of many transcendent moments offered within.

Moments

The pop-science public radio and podcast phenomenon RADIO LAB has posted another beautiful video to demonstrate one of its concerns. This time the "visual experiment" details little moments in a human life. Expertly edited, the piece is sentimental and funny without being obvious or pandering.

In many ways, the work of WILL HOFFMAN for RADIO LAB is a continuation of the scientific films made by Charles and Ray Eames in previous decades.

The Wayward Cloud

The Taiwanese filmmaker TSAI MING-LIANG's 2006 film THE WAYWARD CLOUD didn't get much U.S. distribution, perhaps because American audiences are not ready for an off-the-wall, porn-u-topia, song-and-dance art film...

NYC's Museum of Modern Art plays the film this week.

"My Purple Past" by Deerhoof

Made by ASHA SCHECHTER, this music video for art rock faves DEERHOOF is an investigation into the different methods of home listening. One of the more successful fusions of rock video and structualist cinema.

Sound is architecture is cinema.