HERE

         

this video is much cooler on paper then it is fun to watch. they must have known that since they show us the stretched out/ scrunched up sets at the end, so at least we can appreciate the film feat on an intellectual level!

someday gondry will come up with such a high HIGH CONCEPT that he'll have to build a special robot audience to appreciate it.

         

Truly eh.......

         

so, like michel saw errol getting all worked up about shooting an ames room, and chuckled to himself "i can do zat..."

the nicest parts are the self-references (the foot into the tv), but honestly the distortion is really... distracting. felt like it ignored the track completely, even though there were references in the lyrics. (as opposed to the doorbell vid which really heightened the track.)

is this one of those that grows on you? will we ever bother to find out? word, dickensian...

         

i liked it okay, but then i really enjoyed the payoff w/ the TV being distorted and the foot really sold it. the whole thing is so much about sort of watching yourself and how that distorts reality. i like how you think it's just crazy, empty style but it is actually about a strong theme.

plus it's got conan in it!!!!1

         

pass the balsamic dressing salad fingers...COME ON...it's just a bunch of clever stuff...I'm with D.hero on this one....

         

this is lame. I happen to know that it took 3 weeks of total mobilization at the mill to make this video look like an easy Michel Gondry trick. Once you have that kind of machinery behind you it's not that difficult to pull off something that looks amazing, which this video actually fails to do.

         

Wow. This is one of the worst videos I have ever seen. I love Conan, but he should have known better...

What were they all thinking? There isn't anything clever about this video. It's just a big eyesore.

         

Jesus, Michel, would you please do something crap so I can feel a bit better about myself? Clever stuff is right -- lovely paradox. I am in complete disagreement with the above.

         

Hmmm, well I liked it. You're all being a bit harsh I think (I mean we're not talking about Wake Me Up When September 11th Ends here) Conan was a weird choice though. He's almost too current to be in a white stripes video; it's like having a Jessica Simpson cameo or something. I probably would have cast someone foreign... Like the talkshow host from Lost in Translation. -j

         

This makes me think the song is about the time when The White Stripes were on Conan for a week straight a couple years ago. Is this true?

         

so even michel gondry can't make a michel gondry video anymore?

         

Yep, Hakai, it is.

All the b/g info about this video is here, including a blogger who appears in the vid.. www.director-file.com

I still haven't been able to watch this vid yet, QT problems..

         

ah ha! coool!

         

this hurt my eyes, but CONAN, i had to watch.

         

I like the fact that they used the Michel-made cube Conan head. I enjoyed Conan as a cube.

I think the video will look better on TV then on internet Quicktime. No disrespect to Quicktime, but the resolution isn't the best on this one.

Gondry has put his expectations so high that it's near impossible to reach them. I think everyone's expecting weird little airplanes piloted by kittens with funny glasses flying everywhere, or something bizarre like that. That's not the point. Like the album, it's a mediation on fame, truth and odd types of celebrity, but whether you get that or just get nauseous from all that distortion, it's up to you.

I liked this video. Can't say it's his best, simply because this song has such an energy that all the high concept plot kind of lessened it's bounce. Kind of refreshing though, to apply the weirdness sparingly. And there are sooo many levels to this video it's unimaginable. You'd have to watch it for days in order to work out all of the concept. And by the time Conan says "I feel depressed now" at the end, it's won you over.

         

i loved this video. it took time to get it and appreciate, but now after watching it several times, im in love with it.

its totally a gondry video.

         

liked it a lot - honestly, i've never seen anything like this. it's completely original at the very least. very bizarre, and compelling.

         

In case anyone wants the direct link here you go.

As for the video, I agree with both points. I really didn't like the distortion at the beginning, because of the distraction from the song. I think once they left the studio and went to the apartment, it settled down a bit and became much more surreal. The foot on the TV really tied everything together, and was really a brilliant touch.

It wasn't the best video ever, but it is certainly something that Gondry should be proud of. Wether you like it or not, at least it is a video that gets people talking

         

gondry has already proved he can do almost everything in-camera so who gives a fuck if he got 3 weeks at the mill. for christs sake the video was made for post so get over that. second not one person has mentioned how funny this video is? michel has done some very brilliant work and a lot of very fun work (those too have often mixed along the way too). call me an old timer but sometimes a rock video should just be fun and have cameos by late night hosts. i agree this isn't gondry best work but it certaintly isn't his worst. this has even gotten me more excited for his kanye video.

peace

         

I had read about this, and assumed it would be about the one take Conan concert; I knew nothing of the squish/stretch theme. I thought it was okay at first, but because it's Gondry and the White Stripes; I watched it again and again - and now think it's an excellent "classic Gondry" video.

The question is, if it were a no-name director, would I have given it the chance I did? Probably not. Then again, Gondry has earned his place in videos where he can do something like this.

Still, I think there could have been some more clues as to what they were doing w/ the squish/stretch.

The foot in the TV, the use of midgets, and the elevator were awesome.

Didn't get the blockhead or Samuel L. Jackson; I assume those were references to the week they were on the show.

         

It's in the new Partizan player - and more! QT | Win

         

..and to perhaps conclude this post, here are those beginning lyrics.

If you think that a kiss is all in the lips C'mon, you got it all wrong, man And if you think that our dance was all in the hips Oh well, then do the twist If you think holding hands is all in the fingers Grab hold of the soul where the memory lingers and Make sure to never do it with a singer Cause he'll tell everyone in the world

What he was thinking about the girl Ya, what he's thinking about the girl, oh

         

come on now mr. d.... michel gondry is like, the nirvana of music video makers. and when "you know you're right" came out did you say "this is just another nirvana song, not their best." or did you say "man this song rocks harder than any other song on the radio these days." you know what i mean?
see you at the pixie pit....wink wink

         

Just found a nice big copy at partizan

         

Brilliant!