For my birthday, Kieran bought me Spike Jonze themed presents, including Volume 1 of the Directors Label series - the Spike Jonze collection. It includes a selection of his music videos, interviews, audio commentaries, rarities, documentaries and shorts. I was going through it yesterday and decided to also put on Being John Malkovich as a way to start my Spike Jonze retrospective. Having already seen Where The Wild Things Are, I thought I'd start some sort of a marathon of his work to see what he has to offer.
I think as a music video director, Jonze is highly versatile in his style. I felt that there was no definitive style I could put his name to. On one hand, you have the very elaborately choreographed video of Fatboy Slim's Weapon Of Choice (an old favourite of mine, too), featuring Christopher Walken; and on the other hand, you have the very simple, long shot music video of Weezer's Undone (The Sweater Song). However, I do believe that there is a distinct 'urban' feeling behind his videos. It could just be the type of music he creates videos for, or perhaps something deeper than that.
In terms of film, I do believe the partnership he has with Charlie Kaufman is one to be reckoned with. Being John Malkovich, to me, was similar to that of Michel Gondry's work - just brought down to a lower level of intensity compared to Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind or The Science of Sleep. Kaufman comes back to work with Jonze in Adaptation, a film I haven't seen yet, but will do in due time when I get my hands on the DVD.
Ten years later, we see Jonze taking on Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. The film bore some similarities to Jonze's unidentifiable style through his music videos, yet it's so different to Being John Malkovich or anything else that he's ever done (not including Adaptation since I haven't see it yet). And I guess that's what I'm beginning to love about Spike Jonze. I love his ability to change his styles and experiment with different ways of telling a story, while keeping the 'urban' aspect throughout - some more subtle than others.
In terms of film, I do believe the partnership he has with Charlie Kaufman is one to be reckoned with. Being John Malkovich, to me, was similar to that of Michel Gondry's work - just brought down to a lower level of intensity compared to Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind or The Science of Sleep. Kaufman comes back to work with Jonze in Adaptation, a film I haven't seen yet, but will do in due time when I get my hands on the DVD.
Ten years later, we see Jonze taking on Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. The film bore some similarities to Jonze's unidentifiable style through his music videos, yet it's so different to Being John Malkovich or anything else that he's ever done (not including Adaptation since I haven't see it yet). And I guess that's what I'm beginning to love about Spike Jonze. I love his ability to change his styles and experiment with different ways of telling a story, while keeping the 'urban' aspect throughout - some more subtle than others.
I will keep following and watching Jonze's films till I find that definitive style, and until then, I'm going to explore the Jonze-Kaufman/Gondry-Kaufman partnerships, and snuff out the greatness behind Charlie Kaufman.
Till next time.
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