According to mvdbase, this is Corbijn’s third music video. I remember in an interview he gave that he said he considers this to be his first music video. I can understand why. I kind of like Hockey by Palais Schaumburg and Beat Box by Art Of Noise, but this is much better. It is a black-and-white visual feast containing everything from M to The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, as you would expect from a German band. He tried to re-create the experience of watching something like the movie Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler and other works of German Expressionism.
I didn’t see it in their Wikipedia page, but The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse was banned by Joseph Goebbels when he became Minister of Propaganda. I wonder if that had anything to do with the choice of their name. It would make sense.
Corbijn himself sums up this video in the booklet included with a DVD collection of his work. You can find it here.
David saw the Propaganda video on TV & subsequently approached me for this song, his first solo single since leaving the group Japan. I had photographed him a few times in that setting, he was often seen as a teenage-pinup, poster boy, very striking and introvert appearance. For him to ask me to direct this video was making a statement I think. Anyway, it is again a challenge for me to come up with ideas and I spent a couple of days in Bruxelles in a hotel room to concentrate on that. I found it so difficult to come up with anything worthwhile – I am glad that that part of the process is less of a chore these days. What I came up with was basically lots of images that have no connection to each other and the main image is based on a photo by Angus McBean. Angus was retired by this time but was a great surrealist and I called him up to get his permission to use the photo and we ended up with him in the video. He loved it, he was a great man to spend time with but I recall he couldn’t believe he was on Top Of The Pops at age 80 and David’s voice came out of his open mouth. I did one more video with David the same year and only photographs after that. The little boy in the video I found at the Lycie Frangais in London. Can’t remember the name.
Of course there are things that would be reused later: the leaves in front of the camera, the old man, the steps, and young and old. The only other common thing I can see are the flowers. There are numerous Corbijn videos with them. There are other things too if you really want to break this video down, but I don’t want to.
Below, you can see the picture that Corbijn is speaking of, the reproduction from this video, as well as similar photos that McBean did.
I wish there was more I could share with you about this music video. I needed something surreal, and I felt like doing the less common of the two David Sylvian videos that Anton Corbijn directed first.
Despite not finding anything out there on the video, there are still a few things I can point out. If you’re familiar with Corbijn videos, then you’ll recognize elements that he would reuse later on.
He seems to have a thing for birds.
Dr. Mabuse by Propaganda (1984)
Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana (1993)
You can also see the singer-laying-peacefully shot in this and Heart-Shaped Box.
Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana (1993)
Corbijn is known for his use of black-and-white, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t tint on occasion.
Do I Have To Say The Words? by Bryan Adams (1992)
You can go on and on with his music videos. They all seem to connect together through the use of some shot, element, theme, technique, etc. That includes showing up in at least three of his own music videos.
As if watching the first one again after all these years wasn’t hard enough, that director’s cut is even harder to watch. I am really thankful I am not director/photographer Anton Corbijn. Talk about a blessing, and a curse to have worked with those bands over the years. I mean considering he got his start with Joy Division, only to make the last music video with Nirvana about a decade later. Let’s not forget having made Enjoy The Silence and other things with Depeche Mode considering what happened with Dave Gahan.
Everyone seems to have talked about this music video on its own. I don’t intend to do that. I find it more interesting to look back at Corbijn’s earlier music videos to see where some of the notorious weirdness of this music video comes from and other visual ties to Nirvana in his work. Some things don’t translate well to only a still image, but otherwise, enjoy! I found all, but one or two music videos released prior to Heart-Shaped Box. Oh, and the heart appears a little over 30 seconds into his very first music video.
Hockey by Palais Chaumburg (1983)
Hockey by Palais Chaumburg (1983)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Dr. Mabuse by Propaganda (1984)
Red Guitar by David Sylvian (1984)
Seven Seas by Echo & the Bunnymen (1984)
Seven Seas by Echo & the Bunnymen (1984)
The Ink in the Well by David Sylvian (1984)
The Ink in the Well by David Sylvian (1984)
Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 (1984)
Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 (1984)
Bring on the Dancing Horses by Echo & the Bunnymen (1985)
Quiet Eyes by Golden Earring (1986)
Quiet Eyes by Golden Earring (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
Bedbugs and Ballyhoo by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)
Strangelove by Depeche Mode (1987)
Strangelove by Depeche Mode (1987)
Strangelove by Depeche Mode (1987)
Pimpf by Depeche Mode (1987)
The Game by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)
Lips Like Sugar by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)
Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode (1987)
Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode (1987)
Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode (1987)
Blueprint by Rainbirds (1988)
Blueprint by Rainbirds (1988)
My Secret Place by Joni Mitchell & Peter Gabriel (1988)
Atmosphere by Joy Division (1988)
Atmosphere by Joy Division (1988)
Headhunter by Front 242 (1988)
Love is a Better Word (White City of Light) by Rainbirds (1989)
Love is a Better Word (White City of Light) by Rainbirds (1989)
Sea of Time by Rainbirds (1989)
Sea of Time by Rainbirds (1989)
Faith and Healing by Ian McCulloch (1989)
Faith and Healing by Ian McCulloch (1989)
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode (1989)
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode (1989)
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode (1989)
Killer Wolf by Danzig (1990)
Killer Wolf by Danzig (1990)
Killer Wolf by Danzig (1990)
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode (1990)
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode (1990)
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode (1990)
Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode (1990)
World in My Eyes by Depeche Mode (1990)
World in My Eyes by Depeche Mode (1990)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
Clean by Depeche Mode (1991)
Two Faces by Rainbirds (1991)
Marie by Herbert Grönemeyer (1991)
Marie by Herbert Grönemeyer (1991)
Marie by Herbert Grönemeyer (1991)
Tragedy (For You) by Front 242 (1991)
Tragedy (For You) by Front 242 (1991)
Halo by Depeche Mode (1991)
One by U2 (1992)
Hail Hail Rock ‘n’ Roll by Garland Jefferys (1992)
Lover Lover Lover by Ian McCulloch (1992)
Straight to You by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (1992)
Earlier today, I had the misfortune to sit through the just released movie The American.
The title character, as played by George Clooney (who also produced the film), is an aging assassin. He’s done some bad, bad things and, as a result, he has some bad, bad people after him. So, he hides out in an isolated, Italian village. He makes friends with the local priest, engages in some shady business of some sort with a mysterious woman (Thekla Reuten), and of course falls in love with the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold (Violante Placido). The whole time, the American is aware that his days are numbered and that he can trust no one.
And who really cares?
Director Anton Corbijn appears to be trying to do an homage to the noir-influenced French New Wave of the late 50s and 1960s but he seems to have forgotten that Jean-Luc Godard’s and Francois Truffaut’s films were usually as entertaining as they were intellectually stimulating. (This, of course, is something that Godard forgot as well.) As a result, The American often feels like a parody of an art film. Every scene drips with great importance and all the actors play their roles like they’re in a passion play but, in the end, it’s just a lot of pretension that ultimately adds up to nothing.
As a movie, the American is pretty to look at but I lost interest in it fairly early. Corbijn tries to create an atmosphere of ennui but the end result is simply dull. Clooney attempts to give a restrained performance full of self-loathing and paranoia but he’s miscast in the part. George Clooney the producer doesn’t seems to realize that Clooney’s essential shallowness is the key to his appeal. George Clooney comes across as the perfect one-night stand, the epitome of fun-while-it-lasted but nothing to regret once he’s gone. Whenever Clooney attempts to suggest anything suggesting any greater depth — like in this film — he simply seems lost.
Speaking of lost, so was I as I watched this dull, boring movie. I’m sure some will embrace this film but for me, I’ll pass.
Through the Shattered Lens 