The Work of Director Michel Gondry

So far this is one of seven in the director series compilations (the others being Chris Cunningham, Anton Corbijn, Jonathan Glazer, Mark Romanek, Stephane Sednaoui, and Spike Jonez). These would definitely be considered the new wave, MTV generation type directors. These directors are fully integrated into a visual medium. I would love to see who the series go to next.

You might remember Michel Gondry from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Chappelle's Bloc Party. Prior to these movies he became famous for doing stunning music videos for artists like the White Stripes and Bjork.

This is mostly a collection of the various music videos that he has done from about 1986 to 2003. Out of the all the music video's I have to pick 5 as my favorite.

1) Daft Punk - around the world. Trippy and surreal dance number consisting of aliens, skeletons, mummies, and a few women.

2) Kylie Minogue - come into my world. Kylie's Mobius trip from her dry cleaner + 1.

3) White Stripes - fell in love with a girl. Lego land video is simply amazing.

4) White Stripes - the hardest button to button. Recurring Michel theme of duplication.

5) Cibo Matto - sugar water. Split screen asynchronous story that has a focal point in the middle.

This is basically a compilation of the work of the director. It includes his music videos, commercials, and other projects. This is their portfolio. The Director's Series is the great thing as you see the influences and evolution of the director. I also enjoyed the Levi's commercial, with the truck driver. I highly recommend this and the other DVDs in this series.

A neat collection of music videos.

Michel Gondry has a talent to create charming, very dream-like music videos.

The little animations and shorts included in the DVD were an interesting watch for any fan of Gondry.

Brilliant collection of pop music videos directed by Michel Gondry. Until I saw this DVD by chance in HMV, I had no idea that one man was responsible for so many of my favourite music videos - such as The White Stripes' Lego one, the one where Kylie Minogue walks down the street encountering lots of other Kylies, and the Chemical Brothers 'Let Forever Be'. It also includes some more obscure French ones (Gondry's earlier work). The most outstanding video is probably Bjork's 'Bachelorette', a creepy and beautiful postmodern fairytale with layers upon layers of reality and fiction.

It's fascinating to see them all side by side, as it really shows up some of the themes that run through all of Gondry's videos - for example, repetition but with a slight difference, lots of things that look nearly but not quite the same. The extra bits, short films, interview with Gondry, etc are also very interesting and a must-see for fans of his work.

Also a great DVD to stick on in the background if you have friends round - good tunes, variety of artists, and the coolest videos ever.

A five-hour length double-sided CD with a huge collection of Gondry's video-clips, commercials, short films and a documentary about him, which go from year 1987 to year 2003.

The video-clip collection is extensive and impressive and shows the largeness of Gondry's creativity world, from the delightful low-budget animated clips of his band Qui Qui, to the spectacular ones of modern pop-rock bands and soloists. I especially liked his videos for Bjork and the Chemical Bros, but all of them are fantastic, so different, unique and so very Gondry.

There are a few commercials, but they are just visually brilliant and impacting, less Gondry-ish so to speak, but the humor and naughtiness are still there. The one for Levis is just fantastic.

The collection of short stories is not as homogeneous and extensive, and mixes shorts that Gondry made for his family (birthday presents), others that express things that happened to him when young, and those directed to the public, still inspired in his life, with different styles and aesthetics. I loved "So Tiny" and "The Letter".

The bio-documentary is OK, and shows Gondry's childish, creative and naughty personality, but is not well structured, with bits of information missing. The figure of the father, who seems to be so important to him, is barely mentioned, but his mother is over-present. I would have liked a little bit more of biographical details and interviews from his childhood and youth friends, his brothers, and more personal things. However, the documentary focus more in his professional and creative work, giving a detailed explanation on how and why he made some videos, interviews with the bands for whom he worked, a lot of footage about his band Qui Qui, and some hints of his personal life, but very reduced. I think both things could have occupied similar space, but the professional part ends dominating the documentary. I loved that too, but it left me craving for more.

If you like Gondry and/or good quality music clips you'll enjoy this independent DVD.

Michel Gondry, the French mastermind behind the hugely popular 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', brings us back to his roots in this DVD showcasing the video clips that initiated his career in film-making.

'The Work of Director Michel Gondry' includes video clips by The White Stripes, Foo Fighters and Kylie Minogue among others. By seeing these video clips the viewer is able to see where Gondry gets his unique style of film-making from. The incredible directing that is prominent in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is evident here. His creativity is extraordinary and anybody thinking of venturing into the business of film-making should really see this DVD to gain an insight into the mind of a genius.

It's not just business either. Through this DVD we are able to see the humorous side to Michel Gondry.

Overall, it's an interesting DVD that allows the viewer to step into the mind of Michel Gondry.