David Bowie: Never Let Me Down

"All day and all night..." says the little girl's narrating the old days of a ballroom's unusual and tiring routine of hard and demanding marathon dances that become the center stage of this video where David Bowie's power star conducts some tired dancers, others more enthusiastic dance in an almost sexual manner, turning the bored event into something a little more pleasing. And Joe Dallesandro plays a classy announcer that tries to engage the competitors in this 1950-ish competition a-la "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?".

"Never Let Me Down" does what the title says, at least to me it's a great song that never fails to conquer me. As for the music video by Mondino, it's an artful short, filmed in an exquisite manner with a black-and-white that doesn't seem entirely monochromatic, there's some colors and different filters in between, all destine to create a nostalgic feeling of a past time. The dancers play their part with excellency and peculiarity, each of them have their own routine and you gotta have a careful eye to notice the details, why some are falling apart, broken down, others more romantic and there's a couple who go into a sexual mode while Bowie sings and plays a harmonica.

Well, it's sort of a contradiction between themes and settings, specially if we consider how energic the music is...doesn't sound as something one would dance unless if moving a lot different than everything presented here. Maybe this huge conflict between image and sound is what makes the video appealing to me. I could watch it all day and all night. 9/10