Visual dopamine

December 18, 2010 2:09 PM

This post is a) NSFW or grandmothers, b) Derivative of previous stuff on Metafilter. Having said that, here goes: Canada is a Spanish production company. They do ads, fashion and the best videos I've seen in a very long time. You'd do well to start here.

This post is the bastard child of the bizarre love triangle of this post, this post and this comment, which directed my attention to the video linked above and started my exploration. If this is where Catalan avant-garde is taking us, where do I sign up?

posted by Cobalt (28 comments total)

And of course I would forget to add the main links: Vimeo and their website. If a kind mod would add them to the post I'd be very grateful.
posted by Cobalt at 2:12 PM on December 18, 2010

I just watched that first video without blinking... I love the Scissor Sisters by themselves, but I found the video to be... Well, fascinating.

That and there was a unicorn at the end. Which did make my day.
posted by lauratheexplorer at 2:14 PM on December 18, 2010

Woah, this is great.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 2:17 PM on December 18, 2010

NSFW or grandmothers? I hope it's the former.
posted by doublehappy at 2:20 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's like "Black Swan" as conceived by Dario Argento.

LOVE.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 2:23 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

They seem to be stealing liberally from Buñuel, Brakhage, Man Ray and others, and updating it. Which is a fucking great idea.
posted by fungible at 2:36 PM on December 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

In the interest of accuracy, as a grandmother, I started to watch this.

Yep, not safe for grandmothers.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 2:39 PM on December 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

Love these. I wish the post was a little better, but I love these.
posted by Avenger50 at 2:40 PM on December 18, 2010

this is so ...Jungian
posted by seawallrunner at 2:41 PM on December 18, 2010

There's a paper to be written on all the cinematic references in this -- Vertigo, Rosemary's Baby, Exorcist, Belle du Jour, Family Plot, Basic Instinct, REM's Caravaggio reference in Losing My Religion...

Excellent stuff. Fascinating. And the superficial references perfectly suit the false-gravitas of the pop album of Summer 2010.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:47 PM on December 18, 2010

Please make your post about the thing you're posting about, and not about the site you are posting it on.
posted by ericost at 2:51 PM on December 18, 2010

I got a boner, shit myself, then wished I was taller.
posted by cmoj at 2:54 PM on December 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

The Catalan avant-garde doesn't seem to have moved much beyond Buñuel other than they can get away with more nudity.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 3:02 PM on December 18, 2010

I miss the MTV of my youth.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:13 PM on December 18, 2010

Two things: their Scissor Sisters video is also well-indebted to Clouzot's ill-fated L'Enfer, about which a documentary including various scenes was recently released on DVD; and, as many young directing talents are wont, CANADA have signed to Partizan.
posted by progosk at 3:34 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well, now I have a new thing to play unexpectedly for my friends when they're all stoned and freak them right out, freak them right out of my house.
posted by tehloki at 3:34 PM on December 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

It's like Dark Shadows meets… electro-pop.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:08 PM on December 18, 2010

That was just a lousy bait-and- switch to make us look at a clown, wasn't it?

Wasn't it!?!
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:18 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sady Doyle would like to tell you about that video.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:38 PM on December 18, 2010

Great find, that vimeo channel and their site is full of cinema quoting eye candy.
posted by ouke at 4:48 PM on December 18, 2010

Yes, it was all to make us look at the clown. At least, that's what I took away from it.
posted by Peach at 5:18 PM on December 18, 2010

Pffft whatever all my saturday nights look like that.
posted by honeydew at 5:51 PM on December 18, 2010

I guess this isn't going to be on MTV any time soon.

Because MTV doesn't play music anymore.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 7:25 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

They had me at "Horses and Ponies." Excellent.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:10 PM on December 18, 2010

That video was composed of so many techniques that I absolutely loathe, but I kept watching for the unfolding story... made me think that perhaps I hate them because they're so often used by "artistes" who don't actually have anything to say but want to say it so obscurely you wont notice.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 8:56 PM on December 18, 2010

Clown, you say? I'll give you clown......
posted by progosk at 1:48 AM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Thank you for this.
posted by _Lasar at 3:50 AM on December 19, 2010

If you like the way this song sounds, it was produced by Stuart Price who also did "Hung Up" for Madonna, and a bunch of huge club remixes under various aliases. (Thin White Duke/Jacque Lu Cont/Les Rhythm Digitales)

For example:

Royksopp - What Else Is there.

Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene

Killers - Mr Brightside

Fischerspooner - Just Let Go
posted by empath at 8:49 AM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]