Is Avi Impressed Part 5

It’s that time of the month again, where I dig my father out from behind the moat he sleeps in to have him critique music videos that were either directed, produced, filmed and or performed (usually) by people I know.

For those of you new to this feature, I’ll bring you up to speed. My dear Dada (that’s what I call him) Avi is a veteran filmmaker. In his early career he mostly worked on experimental, campy and cult stuff in his native Israel. Then he interned in London on Jesus Christ Superstar, went back to making Israeli films and got a big break at the Mother Corp in Canada. In between it all, he also worked on this integral Canadian show, made a bunch of documentaries in Brazil (mostly as an excuse, I suspect, to hang out with hot Brazilian women), and won two Geminis. Click here, here, here, and here to read the other “Is Avi Impressed?”

If you believed him, he’s done and seen it all, which means he’s not easy to impress. He’s also sarcastic, and hard-to-impress jerk, which makes it dually hard to get him to say nice things. Yeah, try being his daughter.

This week on the roaster we have “I Wasn’t Made For Fighting” by the band Woodhands, which is made up of a fellow named Paul Banwatt, who I’ve never met and my friend Dan Werb. I’m sure he’s also your friend because everyone is friends with Dan Werb.

The video was directed by Asif Mian, who I’ve never heard of, but appears to be very talented.

Anyhow, here’s what Avi had say on the matter. Oh, and English isn’t his strong point.

Avi’s summary: The temper tantrum of the woman at the start, I can’t relate this to the rest of the idea of “I want to do it one more time.” I guess he plays on time using the clock.

Initial Thoughts: It’s very creative. It tries to reflect the lyrics. It’s beautiful choreography, well computer animation. I don’t know what the budget is there but it looks like a very rich production. Maybe it’s none. I like the idea of “I want to do it one more time” but it starts with “I’m not made for fighting.” Right? But the freezing of the seconds of the clock and he tries to unfreeze it. Visually it’s very well expressed. He expressed it very nice visually. Freezing time. Unfreeze the time.

Overall: The music is good because of the lyrics. It’s like four notes, if I’m not mistaken. If I hear it in the radio, I don’t think I’d pay attention to it, honestly. It has to be something in music that will catch your ear, something sticky. But I will listen to the lyrics.

Say one nice thing: Overall, it’s very watchable, it’s very entertaining. Very intelligent. Well used. It looks like a nice piece of art. I have no criticism. I think I can watch it again. It’s a storyteller. He’s a storyteller. That’s what I like to see in a video. Tell me a story. I know there’s abstracts, using metaphors. But here, from the lyrics he tries to do his best to illustrate it. And he did it very artistically, which is nice.

Were you impressed? Very impressed.

 Can you tell Dan’s Jewish? No. But he clearly thinks like one.  

Got a video you think can impress Avi? Send it to write@eliannalev.com or leave a link in the comments section below.

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