I've Been 12 Forever

March 10, 2022 3:49 PM

Michel Gondry's autobiographical film, I've Been 12 Forever (2004) [41m], deals with his filmmaking and his imagination and how it all goes back to his childhood and his dreams. Michel Gondry's autobiographical film, I've Been 12 Forever (2004)[36m], deals with the concepts for his music videos and how it all goes back to his childhood and his dreams. In French and English with no subtitles, and that's okay.
posted by hippybear (7 comments total)

Over each item in his film kit I'd put this doc kind of on the oh-three stars side of things. (Spike Jonze had a better interview in his Directors Label DVD, as did Mark Romanek). Yes, I've seen all Michel's movies except for the Noam Chomsky q&a Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? and the We and the I.

Disclosure: I used to run a fan-site for Michel and Chris (Cunningham). I hope this comment was enlightening.
posted by kfholy at 4:01 PM on March 10, 2022

Btw I corresponded with MG (over email) and he's just as lovely as he gets on.
posted by kfholy at 4:03 PM on March 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

I’ll watch these!
posted by Going To Maine at 4:51 PM on March 10, 2022

From watching his work I get the feeling that he has some similar visual disorders that I get from time to time and these have influenced his work.
One that comes to mind is the giant hands, you see this in the Evermore video and in the science of sleep. I would get this when i would get tired when i was young.
posted by boilermonster at 11:54 PM on March 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

“I’m Twelve. But I’ve Been Twelve for a Long Time.”

Oh, that's a different movie altogether.
posted by Bee'sWing at 3:15 AM on March 11, 2022

I'm a big Gondry fan and have watched the music videos over and over, always delighted and often baffled at how he pulled some of these things off. His explanation for how he made the Kylie Minogue video ("Come in to my World") just seems a little less than satisfying. He explains how the takes were made and explains the problem of trying to use them together but doesn't really explain how the compositing was done. My theory has been for a long while that a green screen was maneuvered behind Minogue while she was walking on each take, so isolating her from the background. That would then make it possible to cleanly composite her into the backgrounds.

P.S. 'Be Kind, Rewind' is a bit of a goofy fluff but the amount of heart in it coupled with some great performances. It you haven't see it, well worth a watch.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:03 PM on March 11, 2022

Like, there's literal footage of the filming of the video in the second part linked above. There was nothing like that going on.
posted by hippybear at 8:12 PM on March 11, 2022