The reason I even knew the man’s name was this, still the top contender for my all time favourite video, even if my Bjork fanaticism has long since waned [Youtube states that the music wasn't cleared by WMG so the audio from the video was yanked... but the imagery stands on its own]:
I bought “The Works of Director Michel Gondry” (along with “The Works of Director Spike Jonze”) when Palm issued their first releases in the “The Works” series back in 2003. At that point Gondry (and Jonze) had made a name for himself in film, but the music video work could not be ignored, especially given the level of… perhaps not genius, but ingenuity in every video. I had only watched the videos previously. I didn’t know what else I was missing.
The DVD, two sides (as opposed to two discs) splits Gondry’s work into two eras (’03-’96, ‘95-’87), and provides two extensive documentary features about the director, his mentality, his family, his influences as well as interviews with the artists who have worked with him, and his family.
Though I won’t say Gondry’s cinematic output is impeccable cinema, each film he’s done (Be Kind, Rewind; The Science of Sleep; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; and Human Nature) have shown his visual inventiveness. He’s firmly entrenched in practical effects, a child who has never given up crafts, making digital effects feel cold and soulless in comparison. Gondry is a man motivated by his childhood dreams, fantasies and nightmares, a man unleashed, allowed free reign to do what he wants, and the majesty of it all is he manages to achieve his vision in a way that few others are capable of.
Apparently he’s directed one of the second season episodes of the Flight of the Conchords, which has me chomping the bit even harder to watch the new season.