Customer Reviews

Director's Series Vol. 4 - Work of Director Mark Romanek

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Where the first series released included the impressive work of Chris Cunnigham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze, this new series features Stephane Sednaoui, Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer and Anton Corbijn.

Besides a collection of remarkable videos from the last 15 years, we can also see a documentary, pictures and a glimpse through Mark's entire body of work. Also, commentaries for all his videos.

THE WORK OF DIRECTOR MARK ROMANEK
Jay Z - 99 Problems (director's cut)
Linkin Park - Faint
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Audioslave - Cochise (director's cut)
No Doubt - Hella Good (director's cut)
Mick Jagger - God Gave Me Everything
Janet Jackson featuring Joni Mitchell and Q-Tip - Got Til It's Gone
Fiona Apple - Criminal
Nine Inch Nails - Perfect Drug
Beck - Devil's Haircut
Weezer - El Scorcho (director's cut)
Eels - Novocaine for the Soul
Sonic Youth - Little Trouble Girl
Michael & Janet Jackson - Scream (director's cut)
Madonna - Bedtime Story
R.E.M. - Strange Currencies
G. Love & Special Sauce - Cold Beverage
Nine Inch Nails - Closer (director's cut)
David Bowie - Jump, They Say
Madonna - Rain
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Keith Richards - Wicked as it Seems (director's cut)
En Vogue - Free Your Mind
kd lang - Constant Craving

Special Features
-A brand new documentary featuring Beck, Jay-Z, Rick Rubin, Michael Stipe, Janet Jackson, Trent Reznor, Anthony Keidis, Gwen Stefani, Keith Richards and others.
-Romanekian: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Robin Williams discuss Mark's work.
-Making of 99 Problems

Interviews and Commentaries
Individual artist and director commentaries for all the music videos.

52 Page Book
Includes photographs by Mark Romanek and Spike Jonze interview with Mark.

The Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry discs had dense, worthwhile documentaries and extra features.

While the music videos are great, the rest of this Romanek disc feels a bit slap-dash. The only extras are a press-kittish "making of" for "99 Problems," a joke doc and a more serious profile with talking heads talking about what a brilliant guy he is. I don't dispute that statement -- and I could stand an entire movie of Rick Rubin just chatting away -- but a brilliant guy deserves a more penetrating, substantive look into his work.

Even the commentaries are simply soundbites taken from the documentary (uh, rip!).

Still, we do get some fantastic videos -- especially "99 Problems"; Johnny Cash, "Hurt" (believe the hype; it transcends the medium); Fiona Apple, "Criminal" (one of the sexiest-yet-most-cynical videos ever made); Beck's "Devil's Haircut"; "Closer"; and especially Sonic Youth's Little Trouble Girl," which may be my favorite video ever made.

I am a big fan of short-film forms of media, especially in the music video format, because it forces the director to convey his/her visual companion to the song in a very limited amount of time - often forcing the more talented ones to think outside the box and create something more abstract, complex, and satisfying then most feature films. I picked up the Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze sets almost immediately because I knew their movie and video work quite well, and I was not disappointed with either set (Chris Cunningham's set was too limited and disturbing for me, though he is also undeniably brilliant). Of the second series, I bought the boxed set and this disc is easily the best of the bunch.

Mark Romanek's work in this medium is my favorite for several reasons. for one thing, he does not repeat himself in overall theme or approach (maybe reusing floating motifs occasionally), but finds what fits the song and the essence of the artist and manages to capture this on film. Just look at the two most personal (and for my money, best) videos on this set, Jay-Z's controversial "99 Problems" and Johnny Cash's haunting and stunning cover of NiN's "Hurt". you see right away that they are staggeringly unique. However, both pieces manage to relate completely to the songs, sum the the artist's entire career and background, contain stunning visual imagery and become emotionally engaging in different ways - the first time I saw the Jay-Z video I was shocked at the bleak finale, while the Cash video moved me (and many others, if the included documentary is any indication) to tears. It is amazing that Romanek is able to evoke so much from his collaborators in such a short amount of time.

Some other highlights on this fantastic set (thanks to whoever gave the complete listing) include NiN's infamous "Closer", featuring creepy abstract gothic imagery and shot entirely by hand-crank camera; Fiona Apple's ferociously powerful and seductive "Criminal" video; Michael and Janet Jackson's futuristic (and notoriously expensive) faux-battle in "Scream"; and Lenny Kravitz's infectious whirlwind light show in "Are You Gonna Go My Way?". If you are even remotely interested in film or music video, or are aware of the artists in this set and enjoy their work, I highly recommend picking this up IMMEDIATELY. As a bonus, every video features commentary from Romanek and usually also from the artists involved, and the documentaries alternate between highly informative and explorative to just plain hilarious - Chris Rock, Robin Williams, and Ben Stiller mercilessly shredding Romanek to pieces in "Romanekian" is funny as hell!

Everyone knows Mark Romanek's work, even if they have never heard of him. From Madonna to Michael Jackson to Coldplay he has, over the past 10/15 years, been the most vital music video director around. Whilst I prefer David Fincher's work, and find the likes of Francis Lawrence and Jonathan Glazer to also be phenomenal, Romanek has somehow become the undisputed king of music videos.

Either pushing the envelope from a technical or iconographic standpoint Romanek has always strived to create art. It just so happens his art is commercially viable, being one million times more effective than the awful commercial drivel produced more often than not by the likes of Hype Williams, Paul Hunter, and Joseph Kahn.

Whilst I feel he is as responsible as Michael Bay for creating an appetite for fast, 3 second edits, he is also responsible for creating imagery that provokes a deep emotional response that often lingers for the rest of the day. Whilst his gothic imagery of the mid to late nineties has now become vacuous and cliche, at the time it was nothing less than groundbreaking. His current work (see Linkin Park, Coldplay, Johnny Cash and Jay Z) is however arguably his best work to date, so hopefully in 10 years time we will all be asking for Volume 2 of his work.

As for the DVD package. Well it is a must for all aspiring film/video directors, and contains solid commentaries (even if they aren't actually typcial commentaries, but more lifted interview quotes played over the videos) The extras reveal a perfectionist, uncompromising figure who will quite happily push pampered artists to their limit to get the shot he wants. I'm both scared and in awe of him, and hope that unlike Fincher he will continue to make more great videos in the years to come!

Mr. Romanek is indisputably the king of the music video, and he's really not my favorite from this collection either. He might possibly be the most talented director featured in this series though, and unlike Corbijn, his resume is incredibly diverse, unless you believe Jay-Z and Rivers Cuomo to be pretty similar guys. Maybe that's the reason why I haven't really gotten into Romanek too much over the years - I only listen to a portion of the bands he's worked with. We've all heard of them before though, because almost every artist here has had at least one platinum record, MTV award, and hit single in the US.

One thing that does tie all of Romanek's work together is his ability to take chances, be daring, and somehow make consistently great videos. Instead of just working with artsy, underground acts, he dares to take the mainstream to the next level. Everything from Jay-Z's 99 Problems to Fiona Apple's Criminal explores an area that is likely offensive or irritating to some people, and in my opinion, this is the sign of a great director. There are cases where his work is much more conservative, and this is precisely where he misses the mark to some point.

The three best videos from this collection, Johnny Cash's Hurt, Nine Inch Nails' Closer, and 99 Problems, show off how great Romanek can be at times. Cash's Hurt, which takes footage of the sick and weary man in black, is hard for some people to watch on its own, but the contrast of this imagery with young photos of Cash and with June Carter only heighten the power of this video - again, I've been with people who left the room because they couldn't handle it. Then again, it's also a crowning achievement that rivals the power of a great film. Closer, which could have easily inspired the film Seven, also works from mashing together a collage of disturbing images, although there's a subtle humor that seems to parallel Reznor's "animalistic" lyrics. And 99 Problems is probably the most unique hip hop video period, showing the ghetto in a way that was never realized by hip hop directors - this is probably why Jay-Z chose Romanek or vice versa, and it worked out brilliantly.

Romanek's videos are definitely the best part of his disc. There is a humorous short film called Romanekian, which has a great quote from Chris Rock - something like Mark can make you like a crappy song with his videos. This disc also has the best director commentary of the four, and there's always those mishaps in the videos that are borderline hilarious. If you liked One Hour Photo, Romanek's recent feature film, then you'll like that section, too. Honestly, I enjoyed hearing him talk about the film more than actually watching it - he's capable of so much more. And after getting a chance to watch this compilation of his work, you'll probably agree with me.

Certainly, I am not a great follower of pop music and even less of music videos. However, when I happened to see "Hurt" by Johnny Cash I was blown away. It moved me deeply and I had to see it repeatedly. When I had an opportunity to get a pristine version of the video with this disk, I jumped at it. Little did I know how much more was here.

Unless you already know a lot about Mark Romanek, I would recommend that you start with the special features. There is one that talks about the making of the videos and has the artists involved, Romanek's collaborators, and some friends. It gave me a lot of background on how he works and what he is trying to do in the various videos. There is also a rather humorous bit called "Romanekian" where his friends complain about him and what constitutes his work. And then there is a short talking about the making of the award winning Jay-Z video "99 Problems".

There are twenty-five videos by artists big (Cash, Madonna, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Janet and Michael Jackson, Trent Reznor, Jay-Z, R.E.M., kd lang, No Doubt, Beck ), artists who got known through the video (Lenny Kravitz, Fiona Apple, Audioslave, En Vogue, Linkin Park, and Weezer), and artists who are only known through the video (Eels, G. Love & Special Sauce, Sonic Youth - I guess).

The disk is great if you are interested in any of the videos, as I was for "Hurt", if you are fan of Michael Romanek, or are a student of film and want to study how a very talented artist does what he does. One of the themes of the disk is that Romanek wanted and still wants to make feature movies. I hope he gets the chance. He seems to have real vision and creativity.

visionary, stimulating works that really help expand the mind wide open. This is a director who seems to embrace change, always looking for greater and greater inspirations along the way. He never settles for "just good."

The best work of one of the best music videos director. I recommend this Dvd.

Saludos desde Ecuador!!!

From the last 4-pack director series, this one is the most worthwhile. What you're likely to see here is a collection of the most breathtaking music videos (and I'd be willing to bet, each artist's favorite). What's more, a few of these have rarely been seen unedited, such ad NIN's Closer and Michael Jackson's Scream. This has always been my favorite MJ video, which makes his bizarre appearance actually look sharp and intentional for a few minutes... It's hard to keep your eyes off these videos. This collection is the most visually arresting from the 4 pack. If you don't want all 4, at least get this one.

En Vogue's "Free Your Mind" is one of the timeless videos on this DVD and speaks to the brilliance of Romanek's abilities. This DVD captures the essence of Mark's diverse work as a music video and movie director.