Anima

What do you get when you combine the music of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and the imagery of Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread, Magnolia) with choreography by Damien Jalet (Suspiria)? You get one hell of a visual treat that blows your senses away.

Set in a dystopian world where a tired and disheveled Thom Yorke is joined in a choreograph of movements by other fellow passengers on a train. There he catches the eye of a fellow passenger and thus begins his long lost journey to get to her.

Three songs from Yorke's new album, ANIMA, are combined to create this spellbinding fifteen minutes, with the camera angles capturing the inventive and unique choreography perfectly. The set design and art direction are effective thanks to the cinematography, And Yorke does give a fine performance, with his twitching eye stealing the show!

I love both Thom Yorke's work as well as Paul Thomas Anderson's work so is it really any surprise I would love this? The previous music video work the two have done together were all pretty great, and it feels as if it all built up to this. Not in terms of this being the ultimate climax of their work together or something, but more that this 15 minute short musical film was incredibly well done and feels like Yorke and Anderson mixed both their fields of work together perfectly for each other. Great!

Although its exploration of the dystopian societies is nothing new, ANIMA is a fairly entertaining, and occasionally disturbing, hypnotic treat for the senses.

(8/10)

This is the work of artists who wish to express something elemental in human nature.

I can't say for sure I know what they had in mind exactly, or what another person might experience from their viewing; what I can say is that it is masterly work and for me it's about connection.

The last time I saw something this affecting was Michael Dudok De Wit's The Red Turtle; Anima is every bit as life affirming (even though it may evoke tears).

There's little point in elaborating on plot points and such because that's not what work like this is about; it's something to be experienced at a near subconscious level.

I will very likely watch this for a long time to come: many times over.

Mr Yorke, Mr Anderson; Thank You.

Lovely visuals by PTA and artsy sound by Thom.. Enjoyable audio-visual journey that reminded me of the old days when people cared about videos that work with the music.