Shots Ring Out Exclusive!

I hope you haven’t had enough Beck, because the man is on a quest to overexpose the hell out of himself. Just days after Michel Gondry gave us his inspired but flawed take on Cellphone’s Dead, Patrick Daughters (probably best known for his Yeah Yeah Yeahs videos) presents us with his vision for Nausea.

This (real) video for Nausea posits the question: what if the world as you know it was made just for you? Okay, so this is the exact same premise as The Truman Show, which came out about eight years ago. However, Mr. Daughters take on the idea is a bit different: what if the world was made just for you, and what if the people who made it didn’t have much of a budget? While Jim Carrey’s faux world was imagined as a near complete ecosystem visible from space, the people behind Beck’s cage don’t have enough money to spring for more than a handful of extras or real buildings. As Beck strolls down the streets of the city we see those around him scramble to take on new roles in front of him. Pedestrians become bums, shopkeepers become pedestrians, and sewage vans become ambulances in an effort to keep Beck’s world varied on the cheap. Eventually the budget runs out as Beck reaches the end of the cheaply constructed city-facade and finds the door that leads to true reality.

I like to take this setup as a metaphor representing what it must be like working under a major label, to feel so insulated from the real world as yes-men and suits what you see and where you are. Is Beck yearning for freedom? Or is it that Patrick Daughters feels frustrated that he can’t realize his ideas to the same effect as a Hollywood director shooting a Jim Carrey vehicle? And, most importantly, why the hell were people dancing by the ATM? It’s all so metaphysical… I think I’m going to go watch the other Nausea video because playing around in bear suits in front of a green screen is something I can understand. One things for certain: Mr. Daughters’ slow-motion stroll and dark, Fincher-esque lighting give the video a polished, cinematic look that makes it a joy to watch, even if it feels like you’ve seen it all before.

Now, If you’ll excuse me, I’m now going to get back to that Beck biography I didn’t know I was writing.

Beck – Nausea, directed by Patrick Daugthers

Via SRO (iPod compatible: 33.3 MB)

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