After it was announced that director visionary director Darren Aronofsky would be helming a music video for Loutallica’s completely unlistenable piece of shit “The View,” I was optimistic that Aronofsky would come up with something that would be superior to the song itself. I don’t think I was alone in harboring this hope. I haven’t loved all of Aronofsky’s films — The Fountain and Black Swan were both pretty lousy, and, no, I don’t give two fucks how many awards the latter film won — but the guy’s work is usually, at the very least, thought-provoking. He has a unique point of view, and, really, what more can you ask for from an artist? Some people will inevitably love or hate the creator’s work, so, really, the creator’s responsibility is to be, for lack of a better term, interesting. It is, ultimately, the bare minimum we should require of artists, and the single thing so many of them completely fail to do. But whatever you want to say about Aronofsky, you can’t deny that the guy has a vision; he’s got heart, he’s got soul.

That’s why his video for “The View” is such a goddamn bummer. ‘Cause it’s really just a performance video. Is it slightly prettier than most performance videos? Sure. Aronofsky’s regular cinematographer, Matthew Libatique — who has been one of the director’s regular collaborators way back since π — is no slouch. But most of the imagery isn’t really that original or stimulating. Really, the “homemade,” handheld nature of it — that kind of “indie” quality — isn’t that far off from, say, a commercial for Levi’s jeans. Y’know, like this one:

Click to read more…

Vince and I are both massive fans of Oscar nominated director Darren Aronofsky (although we differed in opinion on Black Swan, but whatever). And even if you’re not a fan of his films, there’s no denying that he is a unique and powerful voice in modern cinema. In other words: I get why some people may not like his work, but I can’t understand how anyone could not respect his work.

Of course, my stance that you must at least give Aronofsky his due is probably gonna change real soon, ’cause guess what? According to the Associated Press, he’s directing a video for “Iced Honey,” one of the many terrible songs from Lou Reed and Metallica’s Lulu.

We don’t really have any other info right now, other than the fact that Aronofsky will be utilizing his long-time cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, who has been one of his key collaborators since π (Libatique also shot the Iron Man movies and Spike Lee’s Inside Man, in case you’re curious). And while normally I’d be inclined to say that Aronofsky’s video will probably be the most interesting thing to come out of this whole Lulu debacle, I was also optimistic once that Lou Reed might be able to whip Metallica into shape, and we all know how that turned out.

But the video probably won’t have any monkeys in it, so. Y’know. It’s got that going for it.

Commiserate with me in the comments section.

-AR

Thanks to our friend, the mighty Josh Eldrige,  for bringing this to our attention via his Twitter account!