Thursday, January 14, 2010

"Meet me in Montauk" My visual love affair with Michel Gondry (and He doesn't even know it)




 It was the mid 90's, and it came as a lighting that struck down my eyes and brain, It just happened; my eternal visual love for Michel Gondry's work, just like any love at first sight. I still remember that those were the days when I was in my very early twenties, I was bored a little with the grunge music and the videos (yeah,videos were at one point extremely popular), and as I turned on my TV; I saw this petite girl-woman driving this immense trash truck in a post apocalyptic era, the music was industrial, techno, rough, synth like, with lots of texture and programing behind it. and boy!, she could scream on top of all of that; very expressive. ( I also loved Bjork back then). However, the more I watched the video the more it transmitted some genius element behind it.
  You see, everything looked very hand made; but at the same time there were effects and directional frames of a person with a creativity that could suck you in; well, this video is no other than "Army of Me", and was directed by Michel Gondry.  Back in those days He was not as famous;I think he was well known in France and have already done a video for Lenny Kravitz and another one for Bjork (Human Behavior). From that point forward anything that had the Gondry's trademark I would observe attentively. I could see all the use of imagery of something real, of something I could do myself and at the same time, the presence of technical precision of new and innovative techniques in filming. Furthermore, there was always the element of an oniric proportion, but also a little bit of a child like atmosphere somewhere.
  Time went by and he won awards for commercial videos,and made more music videos; and so, it finally happened; he jumped into movies; that is when it really got interested for me. I have in my hands his first full length movie, Human Nature (2001) which I have yet to see; however I have been able to enjoy all of the other ones that have come out, like my all time favorite Eternal Sunshine of The spotless Mind (He Directed and Co-wrote), The Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind and the latest one called Tokio (Interior Design). ( He also has directed several TV shows Episodes, in other words, his body of work is vast).
  In conclusion expect the unexpected; all of his movies will make you think, they all catch you by surprise at one point or another, they scare you, make you laugh; leave you perplex, etc...What can I say?, I admire his work, his approach and creative thought process; and how he is able to represent and dismantle any physiological barrier within your brain.





Michel Gondry will release  in December 2010 his newest  film as a Director, "The Green Hornet" based on the 1960's TV series.















All images in this article belong to Michel Gondry directed movies.

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