I miss those Director Series DVD collections of music videos, each dedicated to a different director. Music video collections met their demise largely because of the advent of YouTube, which is a shame. Not sure why the length of a film warrants whether or not it should also be on physical media. I don’t believe I have seen a single music video collection make the leap to blu-ray.
One of those collections was dedicated to the video work of Anton Corbijn. Known mostly for his photographic work, of predominately rock musicians, the 2012 documentary Anton Corbijn: Inside Out essentially introduces to the public somebody who is usually, and almost exclusively, behind the camera.
As he explains here, his career started with a passion for music and he just happened to start taking photos of the bands and artists he liked. Photos of one such band cemented his place in rock history, as his photos of Joy Division are inseparable from that group’s mythology.
Then there’s his relationship with Depeche Mode, not just photographing them extensively, but directing all of their videos for years. Or what about his similar relationship with U2? How about his famous photographs of Nirvana and the video he did for “Heart Shaped Box”? Then there’s photos of Tom Waits, Miles Davis, a young Elvis Costello, Lou Reed with Metallica, R.E.M., Captain Beefheart, Willie Nelson, Nelson Mandella, Mick Jagger (in drag!), Johnny Cash, Peter Gabriel. You get the idea. It would possibly be easier to list the artists he hasn’t photographed.
In this documentary, we see him conducting a photo shoot with U2. I like that group, but I still think Bono is always full of shit. What I found kind of funny is he seems to think the same about himself. He tries explaining Corbijn’s technique as “something to do with light and the extinguishing of it”, before giving up and chastising the interviewer for asking such questions before his morning coffee.
Speaking of morning’s, a neat little montage in this film shows pics Corbijn has taken at daybreak out the windows of various hotels around the world. In another revealing moment, he comments on the joy of taking a camera somewhere and bringing a piece of that world back into your own world.
Corbijn’s past is explored, but I never felt like I understood where he came from. His sister explains that, while they came from a large family, it wasn’t a very verbal one, and that he grew up lonely and without anybody to talk to. Still, I am always glad when a documentary explores the forces that shaped an artist, and this film also touches upon church and his various interests.
In another revealing moment, he talks about how he was always hiding as a child. I couldn’t help but wonder if this tendency towards voyeurism partly led to him having such a great eye for shot composition. That composition skill is demonstrated in his choice of shot for Lou Reed and Metallica for their Lulu collaboration: the side of a rusty boat, with a heavy cable hanging across it like a feminine, smiling mouth. It is definitely a better photo than the album it was commissioned for.
Bono apparently once said of Corbijn that he is defined by the pictures he takes, that they collectively form an image of himself. I guess any work is inevitably a bit autobiographical, yet I was a bit concerned by some photos he took of himself as various performers. I find it curious he posed as Jeff Buckley, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, George Harrison and Janis Joplin, but I draw the line at him darkening his skin and imitating Hendrix.
Metallica’s James Hetfield sums up Corbijn’s work quite well when he says, “He can make anybody look cool. Even us.” It is interesting to watch him do his work here, with resulting photos that don’t seem possible from a shoot we just witnessed. And, yet, I finished this documentary feeling like I still never met the man.
Dir: Klaartje Quirijns
Documentary
Watched on region 2 DVD