Music Video of the Day: Loser by Beck (1994, dir. Steve Hanft)


I’m not gonna lie. I really have no idea what they were going for by simply by watching the music video. I spot the reference to Django (1966). The coffin moving on its own reminds me of Vampyr (1932). A lot of the religious imagery makes me think of Dreyer. That, and the holiday–Day of the Dead. I’m also pretty sure Beck is wearing a Saturday Night Fever (1977) outfit at one point.

According to Wikipedia, director Steve Hanft was inspired by Stan Brakhage, Maya Deren, and 1920’s surrealist films for the moving coffin. Beck apparently said they were “fucking around” when they made the video. That sounds about right. According to IMDb, the line “I’m a driver. I’m a winner. Things are gonna change. I can feel it” was sampled from Steve Hanft’s own film called Kill the Moonlight (1994). They also used clips from the film.

Also according to Wikipedia, there is one clip in the video that was not shot by Steve Hanft. It’s the one where Jesco White dances on a bench in a white satin shirt. It is also the one part of the music video that was shot on video rather than film. It was shot by Julian Nitzberg.

There’s some more background information on the music video over on Wikipedia.

Director Steve Hanft appears to have done somewhere between 50 to 60 music videos along with other films.

Enjoy!

One response to “Music Video of the Day: Loser by Beck (1994, dir. Steve Hanft)

  1. Pingback: Music Video Of The Day: Where It’s At by Beck (1996, directed by Steve Hanft) | Through the Shattered Lens

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