Bjork: Medulla Videos
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: BjorkBrand: WEA DES Moines Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 42 minutes
Published: 2005-11-08
DVD Release Date: 2005-11-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Atlantic / Wea
Movie Reviews of Bjork: Medulla Videos
Movie Review: Spellbinding, Artistic Genius On Five Videos
Summary: 5 Stars
I have spent a lot of time and money this year trying to buy every Bjork DVD I could get my hands on. I own 10 official DVD's from The Archive DVD Series that first began with the release of "Volumen II" a few years back, the collection of all Bjork's music videos up until that point in time as a solo artist. A year later she released a juggernaut of live material which included all those live concert DVD's and documentaries. I own the vast majority of those now! In May this year Bjork released "The Med?lla Videos," a stunning collection of all the music videos from her groundbreaking 2004 album "Med?lla." While this DVD is relatively short in its running time, it is absolutely essential for all Bjork fanatics. I am one such fan who think that Bjork is quite simply the most incredible and intense female artist of all time. No one has pushed the boundaries further, or more independently, or more successfully.
Everything she produces treads the fine line between art and craft. It is, obviously, both of these factors; the sheer artistic quality of her work is spellbinding and for this it receives much attention and adoration. However, the craft of her work goes much deeper than just music. She is an all-encompassing entity, a deity, a messenger from above who is single-handedly reinventing the music world all on her own. The painstaking process that her albums go through, from first initial thought and impulse to a breathtaking masterpiece of an album has been tracked carefully online and in journals. One day, in the future, people will look back and give this woman even more credit than she has received. This is because she is so far ahead of her time that in the future the realisation of just how important she has been will become shockingly clear to the world. There's just a selected few who have realised this now.
This DVD opens with the music video to "Oceania," perhaps the most famous and commercial song from Med?lla. Bjork performed this song at the Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, Greece in August 2004. It was perfect promotion for the album, seeing Bjork dressed in a stunning dress that was evocative of the undulating waves of an ocean. The dress, designed by the London-based Greek fashion designer Sophia Kokosalaki, unfolded out for thousands of square feet over the heads of the 20,000 athletes that had gathered in the centre of the stadium. The dress was supposed to represent the ocean and fits in perfectly with the theme of coming together, of uniting and of nature. It's a real shame that the performance wasn't included on this DVD, because it truly was an amazing sight and one of Bjork's most memorable moments ever. The video itself sees Bjork firmly nestled on the ocean floor deep down dressed in a stunning black costume that has a surface texture reminiscent of fish scales and sea shells. Her face is covered in glittering jewels and she looks like an image from a dream as creatures dance around her as she performs the song. She is the ocean come to life, in a half-human form, arrived to sing about the beauty of the ocean and how important it is to nature and the world. All in all this could well be my favourite Bjork video ever. It's so beautiful and perfectly directed.
The next video is to "Who Is It," another superb song. This was the first official single from the album and was a Top 30 hit in the UK. In the video Bjork is dressed in an unusual dress constructed entirely of bells. The focus is definitely more on function than form, which completely subverts fashion's rules. The function is obviously that when Bjork moves the bells make the music to the song. This makes perfect sense, since the version of the song on the video is The Bell Choir Mix, and not the original album version. The song and video feature the Bústađakirkja bell choir, who are a rather strange and scary bunch of people! The video was filmed in the early hours of the morning, beneath the black sand of Hjörleifshöfđi in Iceland of course! It's a very natural and elementary, primal video that seems to take place in the middle of nowhere, but that's all part of the beauty to me.
The video to "Triumph Of A Heart" is probably the most talked-about of all the videos on this DVD. It was directed by Spike Jonze in Iceland again, and features a bizarre relationship between Bjork and her pet cat! It begins with them laying in bed after an argument. Bjork gets up and storms off in a fit of rage, gets into her car and goes into town and gets drunk with her friends in a bar. They have lovely old time, until Bjork is eventually so wasted that she ends up falling over and scratching her face up! All the while, her faithful cat is at home watching TV! She falls asleep in the middle of nowhere, before waking up in the morning to find she doesn't know where she is. She begins walking home, as pink heart shapes start dancing out of her mouth, when suddenly the cat comes to the rescue in a car! Of course he's dressed in a suit, like you do, and urges her to get in the car. They go home, kiss and make up, and dance the rest of the song away as the cat grows to full human size! Incredibly bizarre, but that's no bad thing! A great video, and timeless in its concept and originality.
The video to "Desired Constellation" is another brilliant one, but requires time and patience. A lot of people think it's boring, but I disagree. It's like a more slowed-down version of the Oceania video in that we see lines being traced across the surface of water in a constellation like fashion, as random objects float past the screen. It's a very dreamy and watery-themed video, and will relax you beyond belief! Bjork doesn't feature in the video, however, as this was originally created as a promo on the Vespertine tour. The video to "Where Is The Line" is probably Bjork's freakiest to date. I really can't even begin to explain it, but it leaves me baffled every time I watch it. I think I'll leave this up to you to judge yourself!
OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
The DVD also includes (or at least the UK version does) the great bonus feature, "Triumph Of A Heart: Behind The Music Video," which is a 20-minute long look at the process that went on behind the video. Don't be fooled, though: this isn't one of those stupid MTV things where they take a look at Jennifer Lopez's latest booty-shaking video or something shallow along those lines. The whole focus is on of the extras in the video and how they came about to being in the video. Actually very informative, but quite difficult to understand the first time you watch it. I wouldn't recommend this DVD to the casual Bjork fan, and to be honest, there's not really many of those! You either love her or hate her. I adore her, and this DVD is now a proud part of my collection.
Summary of Bjork: Medulla Videos
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