The Work of Director Chris Cunningham

This is not a "complete works" of Cunnigham's video work by any means and there are those who say that, as such, this DVD is not worth the twenty bucks, but I beg to differ. Cunningham is, far and away, the most talented music video director ever to have walked the Earth. I'd pay twenty bucks for the "Window Licker" video alone. Cunningham beautifully illustrates how creepiness is sexy and how the membrane separating the demonic from the divine might be much more permeable than we supposed.Nature, in all of her glory, transcends pastel prettiness. Nature is numinous and wickedly wild. Sex, for example, is creepy. It's a slimy, sticky affair and there is a reason why they call it "bumping uglies." As Bill Maher asks, "If sex isn't dirty, why do you need a towel afterwards?"Cunningham has twenty IQ points on Spike Jonze, Michelle Gondry and all the rest.In the words of Bjork..."Here comes a genius." Cunningham seems to have a particular penchant for polarities. Robots have an organic side. Organismic nature has a mechanical side. And trolls and goblins are supernal.It's fun to see who gives Cunningham free rein (Aphex Twin, Bjork) and who inhibits his vision a bit more (Madonna). When left to his own devices, Cunningham has the power to make extraordinarily provocative art--art that, like sex, birth or death--is magnificent in its horrible awesomeness. You may find yourself frightened, ecstatic, offended, and aroused...all at once. Cunningham is more than an artist; he is a shaman. And he will take you up to heaven realms and down to hell realms, for both are real, and both are with us always, just under our noses.

THIS is the director that originally attracted me to the Director Series. I'd been waiting for ages for Warp to put out the Aphex/Squarepusher stuff on DVD, we had Come To Viddy, but I want the full crisp quality of DVD material. And now we have most of Chris Cunningham's work on DVD! I say most, because it appears that we don't quite have it all. Flicking through the enclosed 52 page booklet packed with interviews and art, it seems we don't have things like the Placebo videos that are detailed there. A shame, its a bit like being teased with delights that you can't ever touch. So on the whole, this set isn't anywhere near as packed as Michel Gondry's effort. However, that is the only thing that detracts from this package.If you don't know Chris Cunningham, here is a bit of detail. Starting off working on Kubrick's AI project, he became more interested in actual film making. A good friend of Richard Aphex Twin, he started off making videos for Warp artists and burst into the big time after his Come To Daddy video attracted the interest of the likes of Madonna and Bjork. Where Michel Gondry's work stirs up pleasant little stories and childlike tales, Cunningham ventures down a more disturbing dark path. Little hairy armed children running amok, 'Granny screaming', glamour women with big teeth and beards, psychotic japanese children. Something you just have to see! The thing that is most striking about Cunningham is his ideal that the pictures should trigger an emotional response. Everything you see on screen is wonderfully timed to something going on in the track (best example is the Manga crazy Come On My Seleter by Squarepusher). Nothing else is like this, grab it while you can. My personal favourite moment is again one of the short movies included. and again another one about drumming! Monkey Drummer has a multilimbed monkey robot playing a massive drum kit in time to a cracking Aphex Twin soundtrack.A lovely little package, the menu's are designed by the man behind Autechre's Gantz_Graf single ... and are similarly chaotic noise filled madness! Grab this.

Bizarre. Can't really describe his work any other way. A giant showreel of Cunninghams memorable works. Be prepared!

The Director Series of Dvds, in my opinion is a must have for any film student or person who has a great interest in movies, directors and how it's done. I can't recommend this highly enough. Excellent!

The best videos are the Bjork, and Leftfield/Africa Bambata's 'Afrika Shox,' along with Aphex Twin. These additional twelve words are required before I'm allowed to press 'Submit'

Very good!