The Work of Director Spike Jonze (2003) (V)

Directors:

Spike Jonze
Lance Bangs
(more)

Release Date:

20 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Cast

Ashley Barnett	...	Herself (segment "Praise You")
Beastie Boys	...	Themselves (segments "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot")
Brian Bell	...	Himself (segment "Buddy Holly") (as Weezer)
Björk	...	Herself (segment "It's Oh So Quiet")
The Breeders	...	Themselves (segment "Cannonball")
Sofia Coppola	...	Janet (segment "Elektrobank")
Rivers Cuomo	...	Himself (segment "Buddy Holly") (as Weezer)
Mike D	...	Himself (segments "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot") (as Beastie Boys)
Kelley Deal	...	Herself (segment "Cannonball")
Kim Deal	...	Herself (segment "Cannonball")
Fatlip	...	Himself (segments "Drop" and "What's Up, Fatlip?")
Michael Gier	...	Himself (segment "Praise You")
Mark Gonzales	...	Himself (segment "Mark Paints")
Tré Hardson	...	Himself (segment "Drop") (as The Pharcyde)
Adam Horovitz	...	Himself (segments "Sabotage", "Sure Shot" and "Drop")
DJ Hurricane	...	Himself (segments "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot")
MC 900 Ft. Jesus	...	Himself (segment "If I Only Had a Brain")
Spike Jonze	...	Richard Coufey (segment "Praise You")
Catherine Kellner	...	Beatrice (segment "Da Funk")
Tony Maxwell	...	Himself (segment "Praise You") / Dog Boy (segment "Da Funk")
Al Molinaro	...	Al (segment "Buddy Holly")
Kristine Petrucione	...	Herself (segment "Praise You")
Romye Robinson	...	Himself (segment "Drop") (as The Pharcyde)
Michael Roney	...	Himself (segment "Praise You")
Fatboy Slim	...	Himself (segment "Praise You")
Tim Szczepanski	...	Himself (segment "Praise You")
Christopher Walken	...	Himself (segment "Weapon of Choice")
Michelle Weber	...	Herself (segment "Praise You")
Imani Wilcox	...	Himself (segment "Drop") (as The Pharcyde)
Adam Yauch	...	Himself (segments "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot") (as Beastie Boys)

Directed by
Spike Jonze
Lance Bangs		(segment "The Interviews")
Roman Coppola		(segment "Praise You")
Kim Gordon		(segment "Cannonball")

Produced by
Lance Bangs	....	producer
Richard Brown	....	producer
Paul DeGooyer	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Sam Spiegel

Cinematography by
Lance Bangs

Film Editing by
Jeff Buchanan

Art Direction by
James David Goldmark
Val Wilt		(segment "Weapon of Choice")

Set Decoration by
Dea Jensen		(segments "It's Oh So Quiet" and "Buddy Holly")

Art Department
Tim Hays	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Jon Spira	....	sound recordist

Music Department
Fatlip	....	composer: song "What's Up Fatlip"

Production Companies

• Palm Pictures

Distributors

• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Music Television 2 (MTV2) (2003) (worldwide) (TV)

Runtime:

USA:200 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Germany:16 | UK:E

Company:

Palm Pictures

Trivia:

The Chemical Brothers do not appear in their video for "Elektrobank". But at the end of the video, a still photo of two basketball players can be seen. They are Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons.

Movie Connections:

Features Amarillo by Morning (1998)

Soundtrack:

Weapon Of Choice

I like Spike but...

Man, the preview for this series looked fantastic, but sorting through the 333 minutes of the dual-sided DVD gave me (and my remote) pause.

If you were considering watching this, I'd go in the reverse order of what I did. I went mostly sequentially through it which meant first the videos (which were alright to see again, many I had seen before...) and then the commentary for said videos, which was excruciating at times.

Then when I flipped it, the rarities just seemed like they could have been any college kid's reel (well not any, but you know...more aren't than art).

Then finally I hit the documentaries like a marathon runner hitting the wall...but those were clearly the most interesting. The awkwardness, self-deferential tone of the Fat Lip nicely set up the amazing "Praise You" mini-history. I don't want to comment too much about that for spoiling it, but suffice it to say several times during its filming I found myself wondering if art is for the artists alone, or if it requires a connection with an audience.

To me that's an interesting and intricate question. Just like what grade to do you give a B-boy who has F-minus skills and A-plus attitude?

So if you rent this, I'd definitely say watch that, and also the "Amarillo" documentary on Texas teens with rodeo driven dreams first. Then the Oasis video that never was, and then enjoy your old favorite Spike'd videos. For me those foremost were Bjork (always) and surprisingly the Breeder's "Cannonball." I wonder if the new Deal, er Deals, are up to the old...

Kind of hard to rate this, so I'll just give it a point for each *hour* (yikes...)

5.5/10