In the mid-Eighties, at a UCLA conference on the subject of collaborative art, I met and interviewed the film director Jonathan Demme, who went on to great success as the director of such Movies as The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and The Manchurian Candidate. His recent concert Movie Neil Young: Heart of Gold was shot during Young's performance in Nashville; a performance that marked something of a comeback after the musician's recovery from a brain tumor.
Demme has a long history of collaborating with musicians, and has shot videos and Movies for Talking Heads, New Order, Bruce Springsteen, and The Pretenders.
Obviously extremely nervous, when it came Demme's turn to present at the conference he avoided the grandiose statements about the nature of collaborative art that characterized some of the other presentations. Instead, he relied on showing clips of his own work in describing the various stages of production involved in making his films. Each of these stages relies on collaboration between artists in different fields and Demme placed a premium on good communication between the director and his co-workers. His success in achieving this was illustrated by the clip he showed from his film Melvin and Howard, for which he received the Best Director award from the New York Film Critics Circle.
The high spot of the day, however, was his new film, a short promotional piece for The Perfect Kiss, a song by the English band N ew Order. Prior to the suicide of their singer Ian Curtis, they were known as Joy Division, and were consistently the most vital force of their time in English music. Just one song, Love Will Tear Us Apart, and aching, unflawed gem of a record, would be sufficient to give them that reputation. The Perfect Kiss doesn't reach those heights, but accompanied by a beautiful film, which simply shows the band performing the song, it is a worthy successor.
It is the film's simplicity which lends it appeal. There's no story line, no interpretation to intrude on the music. Talking with Demme after the seminar, he explained his approach.
I think that it's kind of refreshing to see straightforward performance, and this one's live, which is so rare on MTV. It's not lip sync, it's not pantomiming.
The intensity which New Order brings to their music has left them open to charges of being arrogant and aloof, but The Perfect Kiss disproves that. They are simply very involve d in their work, and disinterested in the theatrics which so many rock musicians employ. The film employs a series of close up shots which showcase the talents of lighting designer on Henri Alekan. He had previously worked with the French director, John Cocteau, on Beauty and the Beast, and was enticed out of retirement at the age of 79 to work with Demme.
When I realized that New Order liked this idea of doing it in close-ups, it occurred to me that the lighting had to be especially agreeable. I thought it should be done in a classical kind of way, so I thought we should get one of the great masters. Somebody suggested Henri Alekan, and he was pleased to do it. I gave him free rein ... I said, just make yourself happy.
The effect of his influence is stunning. The film is lit with a delicate subtlety, reminiscent of European films of the late 40s and early 50s. One small directorial intrusion lends a ghostly quality to The Perfect Kiss; a figure is silhouetted th rough the door of the studio where the band is playing, a figure reminiscent of Ian Curtis, their dead singer. The impact of this brief, five second shot is breathtaking.
Demme also showed part of his in-concert Movie Stop Making Sense and due to fortuitous scheduling, which had a jazz band playing in the theatre that night, we were treated to a fabulous sound system. The skill with which Demme transmits the excitement of a live Talking Heads show is infectious, and the audience reacted strongly to a seething version of Burning down the House.
You can read more of Tuppy Glossop's thoughts on music and popular culture at his Web site, AtTheFamilyPlace.com
Author:: Tuppy Glossop
Keywords:: jonathan demme,neil young,talking heads,new order,musiv videos
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