Customer Reviews

Bjork: All Is Full of Love

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I find myself unable to define what it is about this human spirit that is consistantly able to touch me in a way that no other artist has been able to. This video reminds me of her comments about putting soul into machinery, namely computer generated sound. It speaks of passion that can be placed into devices that might not be there otherwise. We wonder sometimes looking into the faceless realm of plastic and metals that it is impossible to relate to a machine or generated music. Bjork completely stomps on any critical review that the human spirit cannot be contained within technology. This video explores this realm in a beautifully constructed vision of the spirit overcoming the coldness of a mechanized womb in a way that only she could express.

The first "DVD single" ever released, "All is Full of Love" is a wonderful package highlighting one of music's most inventive stars with a video produced with an equal amount of skill as she brought to the music. Björk's unique visions tend to draw the best from the people who work with her creations, and Chris Cunningham was up to the task when he produced the video that highlights this disc.

The actual "All is Full of Love" video, resplendent with its German industrial visuals, stunning computer graphics and erotic overtones, is perhaps not the strongest of Björk's videos, but even the worst Björk videos trump 99.9% of the dreck currently perforating American culture. On its own, the video is a triumph, and validates purchase of the disc by itself. Perhaps some will be irked by the percussion-laden remix of the song used in the video (as opposed to the stripped-down, ethereal, percussionless version found on _Homogenic_), but the remix works with the theme of the video much better than the album version would have.

Both remixes of the song are pleasing, but if there is a complaint to be made about them, it is that the screen simply dims while both tracks are playing. Given the space made available to the developers by the DVD format, some visual goings-on during the remixes - still photos of Björk, behind-the-scenes footage of the video's production - would have been nice. Granted, as the first DVD single its developers were breaking new ground and may not have taken such considerations into account, but this drawback does merit mention.

"All is Full of Love" remains recommended purchasing despite that flaw, though. No Björk fan's collection is complete without it, and even for those not into Björk the video is interesting enough to deserve consideration.

I recently became a fan of Bjork after I had purchased the DVD Volumen. After viewing her amazing use of imagery and emotion contained in moving visuals and lyrics, I was hooked on this Icelandic chanteuse. But I realized I was missing her latest single, so I purchased All is Full of Love. Although, brief (though brevity is the soul of wit), this music video is truly one of a kind. The way she falls in love with her own more complete robitic image of herself and the two robots alternate their feelings that "all is full of love", you can see her complete originality and ingenuity. She shows how "modern things" can transmit human beauty and emotion. Chris Cunningham's direction is astounding and completely complements every word. The re-mixes are a nice addition too. Beautiful.

Bjork's videos are always works of art, but this one is really special. She consistently tears down any preconcieved notions about music videos, and AIFOL is no different. It is simply the most unique and beautiful video I have ever seen - the perfect accompaniment to such a moving song.

How could 'All is Full of Love' get any better as a song??? Add a video that is SO amazing, it truly knocks you off your feet. Simply put, it is a work of art - and one of the best Bjork Videos she has made.
I applaud the accomplishment of this video - and hope for more thrilling videos like this in the future.
This DVD is a Bjork Must Own Item.

Many times now have I heard people call Björk videos a "work of art". And this video certainly drags the point home.

Directed by Chris Cunningham who had been previously acclaimed for his amazing collaboration with Aphex Twin in the video "Come to daddy" (actually, I like to think of it as a short film) and had also worked with Madonna (Frozen), Portishead (Only you) and Leftfield (Africa Shox) directs this masterpiece..

I've never been a huge fan of special effects in movies or in videos. I've always blamed these effects for taking away the essence of the video or movie and just turning it into something that can produce exclamations such as "wow!!", "amazing" and "how do they do that?". However I make an exception with Cunningham because despite being an special effects wiz he always uses them to perfectly complement his videos but never to steal the spotlight from the essence of the video itself. And "All is full of love" is a prime example of such a video.

The video starts with a "Björk" robot lying down and with two big robotic arms beside her. They start to assemble her while she sings the song. At one time (when the songs turns into this type of dialogue when she sings "all is full of love-you just ain't receiving/all is full of love-you're phone is off the hook...") another Björk robot arrives and they both start kissing in a rather passionate way (Cunningham would later say that he had an idea for "Kama Sutra meets robots" and that it took a lot of thinking about how to make it as sensual as possible but without getting censored). While they're kissing there are several scenes with quite a lot of sexual innuendo.

The above description is certainly a short one but the thing is that the magic of the video lies not in what happens during the video but in the "feel" of the video. At first sight the images in the video seem extremely cold and without any type of feeling. You have these 2 lifeless, mechanical machines (the 2 Björk robots) with these 2 arms putting them together without caring much of the 2 robots kissing in such a passionate way. Add to that the white surroundings and you would think that a clip of an automobile production line has more sentiment than this video. But it doesn't. It has much more feeling than any other video. Somehow you feel that behind these sterile beings in this sterile environment there's so much passion and so much feeling that you think that it transcends beyond their nature as machines and their apparent void of life. Certainly it feels as if "all is full of love".

Truly a beautiful video and a work of art indeed. But I guess that's the only thing you can expect from Björk.

Definitely one of the most creative, original videos I have seen to this date. All Is Full Of Love is done beautifully lyrically and the video fits the music. I have never seen this done so wonderfully before. Bjork's work is pushing herself to more and more admiration from me because of these beautiful masterpieces.

Chris Cunningham, director of the video, is one of the best video directors active today, if not ever. Note how the subtle movements of the constructor robots is perfectly choreographed with the music! Why did this DVD get only 4 stars from me? Three tracks on one DVD - what's up with that? There are more remixes available, why not put them all on the disc! Also, 5.1 sound would have been nice too...

Up until now, I've had to put up wit uninventive budgeted music videos on TV showing 4 guys as marionettes to a girl who just would not leave them alone, or some pop singer clad in red spandex on the planet mars. This video takes the concept of music video in a direction that I had never seen.

The video is almost too short, but it's concept of the topics of love and life in teh form of an AI robot is brilliant. Bjork is transformed into a robot who is being assembled amid a number of instruments and tools. Her face is the most expressive part at some times, where we do not see her actually speak (the visual look of her face grafted onto the robot through computers is great! You don't know if it's a robot or computer effects). After assembly, Bjork meets a robotic counterpart, and the chorus just takes off. Director Cunningham uses lighting effects on light and dark, black and white surfaces to a great degree. In terms of extra features, the DVD has a single audiotrack as well, and even a remix of the song.

Portishead, Aphex Twin and now Bjork. Chris Cunningham's work is simply incredible. AND he picks great music to work with. Gotta love it.