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Written for Skyscraper
Spike Jonze often makes his videos on the cheap. His approach often works: He shot “Praise You” guerilla style outside a Santa Monica theater. From the DVD commentary, we learn that dancers who accompany him in the giddy video were professionals, and he had to teach them how to dance badly. Knowing that makes the video all the more delightful. Cheap isn’t always good, though: simple shots of Pharcyde wandering aimlessly through empty streets in “Drop” prove less than engaging. Pharcyde’s Fatlip fares better when he and Jonze combine their irreverent humor to great effect in “What’s up Fatlip?” The Breeders’s “Cannonball” survives on the song’s own charm, despite a lackluster video. But for Wax’s “California” video, Jonze conjures a stunning single-take vision: a man on fire runs down a city street in slow motion. It’s a gimmick video, but it works. With it’s gonzo ‘70s cop theme, Jonze’s moustache and wig-filled video for the Beastie Boys’s “Sabotage” may be a gimmick, too, but it’s also one of the most electrifying and gleefully silly rock videos ever made. Additionally, look for a suave Christopher Walken defying gravity in “Weapon of Choice,” Weezer playing at Arnold’s in “Buddy Holly,” and Bjork flitting through a dance extravaganza in “It’s Oh So Quiet.” Yep. Jonze made all of those, too.
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Robert Stribley
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