Björk: Volumen

Highly-stylized music videos from Icelandic pixie Björk, several of which have become staples of 1990s alternative rock. Covering musical ground from Björk's three inscrutable albums ("Debut", "Post", and "Homogenic"), the singer is enabled by her talented directors in expanding a sometimes off-putting penchant for twisted, troubling aural landscapes; her internal visions are given wings by these filmmakers, but that doesn't mean Björk takes flight like an angel. Mountains open up, big white moths escape, a cacophony of musical panic ensues. Certainly "Bachelorette", with it's nifty visual hook, is the highlight here--and director Michel Gondry shows an uncanny grasp of irony (and dark humor) through repetitive image. Occasionally, the music and the video-concept do not match up (as on Stephane Sednaoui's Day-Glo colored "Possibly Maybe"), although the mercurial songstress appears to be game for whatever is thrown her way. Her face takes the camera like an eerie sprite, and yet there's a sinister undercurrent to both her music and her appearances. I sense a wizened old lady behind those eyes...and a hanging judge in her smile.