Eskimo Joe - Liars (The Concept Spike Jonze just ripped in his new Kanye Video)
Read the story here: Tisch Film Review
Directed by Nash Edgerton Video Courtesy of The Directors Bureau
You're reaching here. Similar concepts pop up all over the place, and really, this is not a unique proposition to begin with.
Jonze does an exceptional job with his video.
This one is fine too. Certainly doesn't have the same impact, and I would never have drawn the conclusion that the idea was borrowed by Jonze.
I mean, one of the great things about the Jonze video is that it takes such a banal concept and makes it exciting.
i don't know why everyone is so excited about the kanye teaser - i guess just b/c the jonze name is attached to it. i wouldn't have watched passed the lighter being lit if it wasn't for the director. i guess its unfair to compare until i see the full kanye video, but right now, i prefer this one. i think it works really well - with a subtle resolution.
well, i like this one, but from what i've seen i like kanye's better. i think it's eerie, it's intriguing, it conveys a subtler sense of violence (whilst resorting in a tongue-in-cheek manner to hip hop video cliches such as the scantily clad 'biatches' and flashy cars; yes, we do get to see a hot woman, but this is not entirely gratuitous: the reason she takes off her clothes is to avoid getting blood stained). also, i find the lighting in jonze's video to be very subtle/ crafty (the flashlights in the opening scene tricked me into thinking i was watching a UFO landing - were they xenon lights? ) they add a sense of drama to the video, while actively taking part in the story development (the lighter being blown allows for some more lighting that would be necessary for the next car trunk shot; this transition comes in very smoothly, very naturally)
finally, i don't think it's a rip off; or, rather, not an eskimo joe - liars rip off. scorsese ('goodfellas', remember) also had an ext. night shot, and three men and a car trunk and a shovel, and a hole dug in the dessert, etc. it's an age old concept, i'd say.
l.e. upon a closer look i realized she sets her clothes on fire, probably removing all evidence and breaking with the past, the same day kanye did with the 'big screen tv's, 40's, blondes, and bitches' bygone era (lol)
If she took off her clothes to avoid blood, she should have done it AFTER she actually atabbed him to death with a shovel...Me thinks it was so ppeople could see jiggly boobies :)
MATEI: the girl just doesn't need to be dressed like a prostitute in the kanye video. i think you're giving them too much credit. Maybe they are poking fun at hiphop mv clichés, but they're still resorting to them and putting them on screen. If they don't like hiphop clichés, then why isn't she wearing a monk outfit under the fur coat... Its like Peckinpah who said his films were a statement against violence, yet his films were ultra violent and he was clearly fascinated with blood. He still put violence on screen, and Kanye and Jonze are still putting clichés on screen. That is not as much the case with this Eskimo video.
glayvin & captainhairy:
well they still operate within the confines of the hip hop genre, so in a sense i'd expect them to have all those cliches stirred in for good measure. yes, i do want to watch a hip hop video and see some T & A; in this particular case i know that is not all and there's a twist in the plot.(even though its not as out there as some of the earlier busta rhymes videos)
but i agree with what you said about peckinpah.
Weak tenuous attempt to link two videos together with more than a slight whiff of possible PR spin.
As mentioned by Matel it’s an old familiar concept I like him think of Goodfellas before either of these videos and no doubt both directors at some point did the same. Its very familiar and might I say rather tired imagery we have all seen many times before so really we shouldn’t even be having this conversation anyway its a waste of everyone’s time.
Nash is a very pedestrian, middle of the road one trick pony kind of director he is nothing special. All his videos "explore" the same tiny patch of turf that being the teenage fantasies of Boy + Girl + Car Divided by heist gone wrong/stirring human drama = scenario. He has not demonstrated any kind of growth or maturity in any of his videos or shorts and compared to Jonze (who I am not even that keen on) he is very one dimensional and formulaic
I cant see an impartial party going to the trouble to make this connection and put together an article about it and then post it replete with sensationalist header in antville, to me the whole thing has a strong smell of vested interest.
i thought he bit it from here...