The Work of Director Michel Gondry

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.

This is my favourite DVD among the three "work of director" series, which also include Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham.

Michel Gondry is truly a genius, as inventive a video artist can get. I always saw him as a child in an adult body, and that's a compliment because only children can come up with such vivid imagination while exploring their world. But somehow, when we grow up, we loose that instant creativity, the kind of naive curiosity that drives children to filter Reality. Life simply gets the best out of us with its endless routine and repetitive patterns. How many times do you get to see some old cartoons you adored when you were little, and somehow you get disappointed and tell yourself "It sucks!"

Michel Gondry is one the most awarded music video and commercial directors, he is a gifted artist who's never afraid to try new things. He has such an avant-garde view and creativity, the kind of videos you just stare at in awe and wonder "How the hell did they do that" (e.g. the Fell in Love with a girl video.) Some of his techniques are truly brilliant, yet when you look closely, every bright child could have come up with the same ideas.

This is a must-have for every Gondry fan, as well as those who are looking for many hours of creative inspiration & fun.

Part of the DVD series "The Work of Director ________", a trio of DVDs featuring the work of three groundbreaking video and short film directors, "The Work of Michel Gondry" is an extensive filmography of the director's work prior to his acclaimed feature film debut "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It was interesting to see these pieces after having seen that film because it is so clear that his innovative and (usually) whimsical vision were present long before that film was released.

Essentially "discovered" by musician Bjork and tapped to do the video for her film "Human Behaviour", Gondry went on to do several videos for her as well as for The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, Foo Fighters & The Rolling Stones, among others. All of the videos feature enormous amounts of color, are usually laden with fantasy elements (there are a lot of themes that involve time-shifting) and most either are ironic or dryly humorous. The total effect is completely intoxicating. I have always found Bjork's videos to be wonderful and unusual, but all of the videos in fair succession of one another are a heady experience. The amount of work that went into The White Stripes' "Fell in Love With a Girl" video, which features the band as Legos, with every shot done manually is mind-boggling. Even Kylie Minogue's "Come into my World" (I personally find her insipid at best) was extremely enjoyable because the video, essentially a mobius strip where Minogue is walking around a city block, was so sublime.

The collection also features some commercial work and short films that Gondry has produced during his professional career including a beautifully shot black and white film called "The Letter". Having now seen all three of the collections released by the Directors Label series (including Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham) Gondry's work is the perfect addition to the series because he brings an element of bright imagination, and while all three directors are creative, his work is laced with a fancifulness that works as a thin patina, under which obvious intelligence lies. I considered "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" to be the best film released in 2004, and Gondry's video work is a strong support for his talent and vision. I highly recommend it. 8/10 --Shelly

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.