The Work Of Directors Label - Limited Edition Set Bonus DVD
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Bonus Programming: B-
After the great introduction of Directors Label
collections of Music Videos and other short films and commercials by Spike Jonze,
Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry in three memorably packaged collections,
Palm Pictures has reissued all three collections in a new Work Of Directors
boxed set. The DVDs come in single
cases this time, with the thick, well-produced booklets in their own section of
the box. The new features include a
double-sided poster and a fourth DVD that updates what the filmmakers have
roughly done in the past year outside of any feature film work.
The 4th DVD comes in a slender case (the kind a
few millimeters thick) and offers the following:
Spike Jonze directs:
1)
Y Control (Uncut Version) by The Yeah
Yeah Yeahs
2)
Island Of The Sun by Weezer
3)
Invisible Boards (excerpt from Yeah
Right! – A Girl Skateboard film co-directed by Rick Howard)
Michel Gondry directs:
4)
I Wonder – The Willowz
5)
Ossamuch! – Kishu & Co. (original
short)
And in place of any work from Cunningham, who did not
work on Alex Proyas’ I, Robot despite reasonable impressions to the
contrary, an in-store interview with all three directors prior to the first
release of their collections is here in a sadly under 9.5 minutes segment that
axes out answers to audience questions.
There was room for more content, but this is still nice enough. Whether it justifies buying a whole box to
get the three titles all over again is another story, as they sold well, but
certainly not in the millions and millions they deserve and may eventually sell
into.
Y Control has mock Horror violence in a
purposely color-poor video that is reminiscent of the Samuel Bayer look. Island Of The Sun previously was
featured on the Weezer DVD Video Capture Device that offered more live
clips than Videos like this, as they do not like doing them much. That’s sad, as they do so many good
ones. Invisible Boards is a
slick clip that has the stereotypical skateboarding footage with the twist that
the boards themselves have been “somehow” removed, though the skaters are
boarding on something. I Wonder
is a monochrome clip that shows the fun of Gondry’s Lucas With The Lid Off,
if not that brilliant. I still liked
it. Ossamuch! Is a celebration
of 16mm shooting we see little of and looks great in a fun clip on the city
streets, in a business district, with some wild dancing, music and Gondry at
the drums.
In all cases, the image is 1.33 x 1 full screen with Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo throughout. The
formats vary, with the interview from NTSC digital footage being the weakest,
but still relatively clean, if over-edited.
Jack Black shows up too. That is
more than on par with the previous three sets.
Up to four more directors will be featured in the next volumes of these
Directors Series releases and if they are as great as all of these releases, we
cannot wait. To read about the previous
installments, click on to the following links:
SPIKE JONZE
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=464&filter=4
CHRIS CUNNINGHAM
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=522&filter=4
MICHEL GONDRY
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=567&filter=4
If you do not have any of these DVDs, get this box
immediately!!!
- Nicholas Sheffo
