Another master piece delivered from the nice guys of CANADA.

         

Some brief nudity in it (NSFW).

         

Very similar to those Faith No More Vids from the 90's. The best part of the Video is the Editing, whoever did it did a good job.

I like this Video. Well done.

         

pretty great.

i want to see this treatment.

         

Hasn't any new ideas since 'De la Monarquía a la Criptocracia'.

         

I quite liked that.

         

really great song! AMAZING VIDEO! so inspired. Nicolás Méndez whomever you are, you sir are a genius. this speaks to me in some freudian way...

i need to find this guys reel

         

this is a masterpiece

         

Enjoyed this a lot. Before you break out the "G-Word" you might want to go re-watch Belle Du Jour. But yeah great edit, just like Bombay.

         

yeah i would relax on the g-word.. but this guy def has a very unique style. shot on 16mm ?

         

That is a lot of Catholic symbolism.

         

hahah i love you guys. 'before you break out the g-word'

i checked out his reel and ok maybe he's not a GENIUS. but together this video/ song is in my eyes. i love how unrestrained it is and the theme's of sexuality, lust life and death... everything. there's so much to interpret and so many inspired soulful moments. it reeks of nostalgia of things i do not know.

i tend use the g-word anytime a video makes me feel wet inside. arcade fire and this we're the only ones to do it for me this year. otherwise grammas pussy would still be as dry n dusty as a vintage oreck bag.

i think i just felt sophie muller and alex & liane twitch uncomfortably.

         

wow.

         

This is really really amazing. The details are spot on. So happy a major label and artist approved this!

         

love it!

         

First of all, great video.

Secondly, as a director I'm obviously hugely bitter. How on earth do videos like this get produced? Looks like a 2/3 day shoot with post on top... top notch styling, casting, make-up etc... Looks like £100k, but SS don't make £100k videos do they?

Before I go- well done to everyone on this job especially the director and big ups to the editor and producer!

         

can't see it. new link would be appreciated.

         

Nice but gets a bit tiresome. Still going the random image montage (obligatory breast shot included)... actually is this the same treatment as the Bombay video but with a montage of Giallo film re-enactments? There are some huge Argento and Fulci references in there.

It's definitely well done but the whole mysticism thing seems so overdone now.

I'd like to see this guy bring a video home with one idea rather than an overload of cool images ripped from pop culture and retro films.

All obvious negative criticism aside I guess this is still an interesting video.

         

i agree with you in some ways, though i'm not sure what the whole 'mysticism thing' is you mention. if it's been done before it hasn't been on this level. i've seen similar imagery but without the energy or execution which makes it nil. this video might seem all over the place, but with my take of the concept i think it's actually pretty sound and tight knit. it's thematic not necessarily a story, like memories buried deep in the subconscious coming alive to dance. very freudian with the horses/sex/ass grabing and pills. she's a trapped animal. we're all animals. sexual beasts in bonnets. i love the truth in the message. plus most everything's a rip off of something from somewhere, i'd much rather see retro films and art referenced than other music videos, commercials or even contemporary films. it's a bit mark romanek in that sense. but i don't watch retro films, so i might not see how clear the plagiarism is in which case i'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

regardless this is definitely interesting and exciting... especially for a scissor sisters video. it's made me an unexpected fan.

         

Can't deny the technical mastery. Content/theme/random imagery is all a matter of taste, and can seem a bit tired to us. But damn these guys know who to delivery, how to materialize their ideas and visions.

         

I'm with motley on the Scissor Sisters front. The video kind of enlivens the song, which is one of the finest compliments. Not over-the-top great but, daaay-umn.

         

Oh and that's fricking Sir Ian McKellan on the voiceover.

         

@motleycrew... no need to preach to me. I know what the video is about and I agree with Pancho that it is a matter of taste conceptually and aesthetically. I like mysticism and the occult as much as the next person but you would have to be a complete simpleton not to have noticed the overwhelming plethora of mystic / occult references in fashion, art, music, music videos and basically all pop culture over the last 2 years.

On another topic everyone prefers to see art and retro films referenced rather than contemporary stuff but it can still get rather boring when those references are as familiar as contemporary ones or are just following on from what is already proven to be popular - especially when you are not adding anything new to the equation.

For example notice that the last Canada video was also very similar in theme and concept to this one, just lower budget.

To conclude I do agree with you Motleycrew, the video is well executed and is very interesting but also very typical.

         

@Kranskian

I see your point, but call me no simpleton! I mis-understood what you meant as mystic... I couldn't agree more with your points actually... especially about the need for more original untainted ideas... it's all very much 'the same shit' from the same reference pools and general themes/ concepts, even down to the styling and film look albeit it's done very well. It's re-inventing nothing, instead re-mashing old things together in a new way. We are living in a thrilling time in history with a very young and blossoming medium in our hands, I predict some pretty wild work in the years to come as the technology continues to become tangible to artists living outside of industry bubbles.

I believe it's time to re-invent our culture and what videos are even thought to be. I will be so excited when we start seeing filmmakers with their own ideas of what that is. It's time to break through to the next level.

         

great edit! don't love the one off ness of the piece as a whole. it's all too hip, too tumblr blog esque. But man, solid!

         

This is to indie videos right now the way rims and booty shaking are to rap videos. It's so generic you could easily change out the music and repurpose it as a yeasayer, crystal castles, local natives/etc etc etc video without changing a thing. I don't know when "it reminds me of other artsy stuff I like" became the standard for what constitutes a good video, but please, please, please don't call it genius.

         

im with budget, except the please, please, please part. am not dat dramatic

         

budget, you queen! :) i disagree i've seen many 'hipster' videos attempt things like this and fail miserably. i guess with your metaphor it would be like comparing a cheap lil wayne video to the thong song (possibly the ultimate booty video). execution makes all the difference, for me anyway - that's what filmmaking is.

this is the first time i've seen this kind of concept done successfully - does anyone please have some examples of others? i feel like i'm being left in the dark. i'm surprised at the lack of appreciation for this video even if there are some cliche's happening. considering where the industry is and what most are releasing i'm kissing the ground for this. scissor sisters took a chance and it payed off. no one is taking chances right now.

GENIUS, GENIUS, GENIUS

         

i'm with motley, like i said the execution on this video is pitch perfect. @ budget: the cheap lil wayne video vs thong song is a good comparo no? as a genre piece, this video couldn't be better.

         

From what I gather budget isn't saying the video is not well executed. It's just the fact that the video is really nothing but a bunch of euro film references done in style that has been heavily prevalent in indie videos the last few years.

It's very well done but it's nothing new. These guys have already pretty much made the exact same video twice before this. Of course they're gonna get better at it.

I'm not gonna argue about what makes something genius or not, but to me this ain't it.

         

I could live with "well executed" but all that hyperbole about "taking chances" and "genius" is silly. This is the EXACT type of video I would expect from the scissor sisters in 2010. Please point me in the direction of the new ground that's being broken.

Motley, how you could hate on that Kush video (cliche but well executed) and then turn around and praise this video (also cliche but well executed) says more about your personal taste than the quality of any of these videos.

         

the kush video is top notch as well even tho it's not pushing the envelope, just using old established techniques.

         

Perhaps what this is all getting at is the topness of the styling/editing/art direction, but the lack of actual direction.

I felt like Kahn abdicated the Chair in that Kush vid, kind of just playing his hand without really envisioning anything.

         

ok finally got round to see it. crappy vimeo version though. good art direction, good photography. genious? no. did i saw caravaggio's "doubting thomas" somewhere in there? i think so… like i said, good, not great, def not genious. just my 2 cents.

         

@motleycrew In music videos as far as the concept goes and just from this site I believe there was this then this then sadly this then this and then we have the scissor sisters video. Like Macguffin said this is the third time round for Canada doing pretty much the same thing, this time with a bunch of money so ofcourse they are going to get good at it.

As for the theme well there would be a long list but disregarding the changing art direction and style I'd almost say you could go right back to this video by Saam and The Klaxons if you want to trace contemporary popularity in music videos of the occult and mysticism. On a side note, besides the European film / Giallo / Argento / Fulci references I am thinking there is quite a bit of Kenneth Anger in there as well. Motley I think you should maybe question why you are so impressed by the video and for the most part why nobody else is?

         

@budget you hold a good argument for personal taste vs quality you have me there.

@kevathens i thought this had a ton of direction.

@kranskian i have a lot of research to do tonight but i guess i'm out of the loop culturally and am also un familiar with a lot of the things you mention, i really appreciate the linkage.

this is the kind of conversation this blog is so valuable to me for

         

also @budget:

i never hated on KUSH i like that video... i just have a perspective on the concept that wasn't intended. i also really appreciate it is for it's technical execution it's quality stuff.

         

nice editing, but ideawise sadly the same story like with bombay, this time quite a lot of shots directly taken from clouzot's "l'enfer" that never came out as a movie. this year a dvd with extracts of it came out, guess he got it. - or just watched the trailer... www.youtube.com

         

great link, didnt know about this

         

quicktime: www.partizan.com

         

@Kranskian

my god man, thank you for the lesson - i've been schooled.

i totally see your point, this is beyond 'typical'... i didn't know such a world of videos even existed. is this what everyone is calling hipster/ scene? it certainly feels like it. it leaves me frustrated, wondering when will directors stop referencing and start conceptualizing. that used to be the point, to have new ideas.

there's still some genuine dopeness in the video, but it is absolutely not genius. i stand corrected.

         

hmmm........... I don't think music videos are meant to re-invent the language of cinema.. They've always been based on other visual mediums, a certain photographer's work, sculpture, pop art, painting, video art, old tv show, pop culture references, animation technique, cartoon style... Just ask Romanek, Schofield, etc... Yes some music videos re-invent the genre, but they're few and far between. You guys knocking this video is kinda ridiculous. Music video directors will never stop referencing, cause 1. they're lazy, 2. they suck at narrative, 3. that's not the point of music videos.

         

@pancho - ofcourse but what seperates Romanek and Schofield from this argument is that they never have based a video on another recent music video and each video they have made is different then the last one.

The reason I don't advocate this video as 'genius' is that it not only references a bunch of recent music videos but is basically just another rehashing of the same concept and themes as the last 2 videos that Canada themselves made.

         

That's a lame argument!! Just cause someone follows the same style for 2 videos in a row it's supposed to make it bad... please..

         

dude nobody said it was bad, just not "genius"… let it go already, this video was posted a week ago, jesus…

         

@pancho - did I say the same style? All directors inherently follow their own style. I specifically said Canada had made 3 videos one after the other that basically followed the same concept and themes which in the first place quite obviously referenced Schofeild's concept for the gainsbourg /beck video.

Also did I say the video was bad? I merely said it wasn't genius in my books. The video isn't bad. I just find it slightly boring for the reasons I've mentioned. Correct me if I'm wrong but following your last irrational comment I really think I deserve the right to exclaim... please..

         

haha, never said the video was genius either. It's a good/great video, I just love you guys nitpicking about this and that french new wave trailer, 'oh can't they come up with something original' bullshit.

         

well, like schofield, they've managed to get 'nuff reaction - so there's that...

         

well i figured it out and i have an insane crush on the girl. who is she!